Using discrete choice experiments (DCEs) to compare social and personal preferences for health and well-being outcomes

Background Economic evaluations in health typically assume a nonwelfarist framework, arguably better served by preferences elicited from a social perspective than a personal one. However, most health state valuation studies elicit personal preferences, leading to a methodological inconsistency. No studies have directly compared social and personal preferences for outcomes using otherwise identical scenarios, leaving their empirical relationship unclear. Aim This unique study examines whether the choice of eliciting preferences from a social or personal perspective influences valuations of health and well-being outcomes. Methods Using discrete choice experiments, social and personal preferences for health and well-being attributes were elicited from the UK general public recruited from an internet panel (n = 1,020 personal, n = 3,009 social surveys). Mixed logit models were estimated, and willingness-to-pay (WTP) values for each attribute were calculated to compare differences between the 2 perspectives. Results While no significant differences were observed in the effects of physical and mental health, loneliness, and neighborhood safety across the 2 perspectives, significant differences emerged in WTP values for employment and housing quality. For instance, other things being the same, personal preferences rate being retired as more preferable than being an informal caregiver, but the social preferences rate them in the reverse order. Conclusion Our findings demonstrate that the perspective matters, particularly for valuing outcomes such as employment and housing. These findings indicate that the exclusive use of personal preferences to value states such as employment and housing quality may potentially lead to suboptimal resource allocation, given that such valuations reflect individual rather than societal benefit. This highlights the importance of considering perspective especially in the resource allocation of public health interventions.