Transforming challenges into opportunities: conducting health preference research during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond

Abstract

The disruptions to health research during the COVID-19 pandemic are being recognized globally, and there is a growing need for understanding the pandemic’s impact on the health and health preferences of patients, caregivers, and the general public. Ongoing and planned health preference research (HPR) has been affected due to problems associated with recruitment, data collection, and data interpretation. While there are no “one size fits all” solutions, this commentary summarizes the key challenges in HPR within the context of the pandemic and offers pragmatic solutions and directions for future research. We recommend recruitment of a diverse, typically under-represented population in HPR using online, quota-based crowdsourcing platforms, and community partnerships. We foresee emerging evidence on remote, and telephone-based HPR modes of administration, with further studies on the shifts in preferences related to health and healthcare services as a result of the pandemic. We believe that the recalibration of HPR, due to what one would hope is an impermanent change, will permanently change how we conduct HPR in the future.

Japanese value set for the EORTC QLU-C10D: A multi-attribute utility instrument based on the EORTC QLQ-C30 cancer-specific quality-of-life questionnaire

“…Further, the survey was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic which had substantial impact on life in Japan. Other authors have noted that the pandemic did not impact on the ability to conduct online surveys such as this one during the pandemic, and indeed greater use and development of online research occurred during the pandemic [ 52 ]. However, it is unknown whether there was an impact on health preferences during the pandemic for the health attributes assessed in our study in comparison to pre- and post-pandemic preferences.…”

Challenges and Strategies in Conducting Population Health Research during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experience from a Nationwide Mixed-Methods Study in Bangladesh

“…Despite these measures, the ongoing number of COVID-19 infection cases remains a concern, and a resurgence in COVID-19 cases is being recorded in many parts of the world [5][6][7]. As it has many aspects of life today, the emergence of COVID-19 has notably affected research activities [8][9][10], especially population research, which has been heavily disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic [10,11]. Population health research involves collecting primary data from individuals and/or at the community level.…”

“…Population health research involves collecting primary data from individuals and/or at the community level. The primary data are typically collected through face-to-face interviews known as fieldwork [9,11]. The degree of challenges in the execution of studies varies depending on the method, the design, and the context under which the respective studies are conducted [12].…”