title: Is consulting patients about their health service preferences a useful exercise?
abstract: As part of the shift toward patient-centered care, patients are increasingly being consulted about their preferences for health services and interventions, including those explored during randomized controlled trials (RCTs), to ensure that service recommendations are aligned to their own circumstances and needs. Hence, we interviewed patients (N = 40) who participated in a randomized control trial comparing diabetes education courses delivered using two different formats to establish whether, and why, they preferred one format to the other, to inform recommendations for future course delivery. Not only did patients report changing their preferences, and the reasons underlying these preferences, over time, but all patients also claimed to prefer the particular course they had attended. We use our findings and experiences to problematize the notion of a patient preference and to raise questions about what we can really learn from consulting patients about the care they receive within the context of an RCT.
authors.affiliation: University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. j.lawton@ed.ac.uk
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lawton
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rankin
authors.forename: Jackie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Elliott
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006296:Health Services; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D010358:Patient Participation / Q000523:psychology*; D057240:Patient Preference / Q000523:psychology*; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000379:methods; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000523:psychology; D035842:Research Subjects / Q000523:psychology*; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: diabetes; health care, user’s experiences; interviews; program evaluation; research design; research participation; research, qualitative