Patient Preference and Adherence (Sep 2023)
Preferences in the Design and Delivery of Neurodevelopmental Follow-Up Care for Children: A Systematic Review of Discrete Choice Experiments
Abstract
Pakhi Sharma,1 Sanjeewa Kularatna,1 Bridget Abell,1 Karen Eagleson,2,3 Linh K Vo,1 Ureni Halahakone,1 Sameera Senanayake,1 Steven M McPhail1,4 1Australian Centre for Health Services Innovation and Centre for Healthcare Transformation, School of Public Health and Social Work, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia; 2Queensland Paediatric Cardiac Service, Queensland Children’s Hospital, Brisbane, QLD, Australia; 3Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia; 4Digital Health and Informatics Directorate, Metro South Health, Brisbane, QLD, AustraliaCorrespondence: Pakhi Sharma, Australian Centre for Health Services Innovation and Centre for Healthcare Transformation, School of Public Health and Social Work, Queensland University of Technology, 60 Musk Avenue, Kelvin Grove, Brisbane, QLD, 4059, Australia, Tel +61 401829045, Email [email protected]: Neurodevelopmental disorders are a significant cause of morbidity. Early detection of neurodevelopmental delay is essential for timely diagnosis and intervention, and it is therefore important to understand the preferences of parents and clinicians for engaging with neurodevelopmental surveillance and follow-up care. Discrete choice experiment (DCE) may be an appropriate method for quantifying these preferences. This review systematically examined how DCEs have been designed and delivered in studies examining neurodevelopmental care of children and identified the preferred attributes that have been reported. PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, and Scopus databases were systematically searched. Studies were included if they used DCE to elicit preferences for a neurodevelopmental follow-up program for children. Two independent reviewers conducted the title and abstract and full-text screening. Risk of bias was assessed using a DCE-specific checklist. Findings were presented using a narrative synthesis. A total of 6618 records were identified and 16 papers were included. Orthogonal (n=5) and efficient (n=5) experimental designs were common. There was inconsistent reporting of design-related features. Analysis was primarily completed using mixed logit (n=6) or multinomial logit (n=3) models. Several key attributes for neurodevelopmental follow-up care were identified including social, behavioral and emotional support, therapy, waiting time, and out-of-pocket costs. DCE has been successfully used as a preference elicitation method for neurodevelopmental-related care. There is scope for improvement in the design and analysis of DCE in this field. Nonetheless, attributes identified in these studies are likely to be important considerations in the design and implementation of programs for neurodevelopmental care.Keywords: preferences, discrete choice experiment, attributes, neurodevelopment, follow-up
