Health states following head and neck cancer treatment: patient, health-care professional, and public perspectives.

Abstract

This study investigated the assignment of preference values to health states which may follow head and neck cancer (HNC) treatment. Preference values for these health states were provided by HNC patients, HNC health-care providers, and a group of college students representing individuals with little knowledge of HNC. A time trade-off technique was used by participants to assign preference values to four health states in the domains of appearance, eating, speech, breathing, pain, and work/social functioning. Patients' and health-care professionals' rank-ordered preference value scores for health states in appearance, breathing, eating, and speech were not significantly different (p < .05). These two groups differed significantly in ranking four of the eight pain and work/social functioning health states. Patients and students differed significantly in ranking 21 of the 24 health states (p < .05). Health-care professionals and patients had very similar perspectives regarding health states in the HNC-specific domains, indicating that these professionals appear to be a legitimate proxy for patients' attitudes in these domains. Healthcare professionals placed a significantly greater value on avoiding both pain and social confinement than did patients. Students, representing individuals naive regarding HNC, differed from patients and health-care professionals in their rankings of these health-state outcomes.