A comparison of analytic hierarchy process and conjoint analysis methods in assessing treatment alternatives for stroke rehabilitation

Abstract

Background: With growing emphasis on patient involvement in health technology assessment, there is a need for scientific methods that formally elicit patient preferences. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and conjoint analysis (CA) are two established scientific methods - albeit with very different objectives. Objective: The objective of this study was to compare the performance of AHP and CA in eliciting patient preferences for treatment alternatives for stroke rehabilitation. Methods: Five competing treatments for drop-foot impairment in stroke were identified. One survey, including the AHP and CA questions, was sent to 142 patients, resulting in 89 patients for final analysis (response rat..