Development of Population Tariffs for the CarerQol Instrument for Hungary, Poland and Slovenia: A Discrete Choice Experiment Study to Measure the Burden of Informal Caregiving

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Abstract

Background The CarerQol instrument can be used in economic evaluations to measure the care-related quality of life of informal caregivers. Tarif sets are available for Australia, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, the UK, and the USA. Objective Our objective was to develop tarif sets for the CarerQol instrument for Hungary, Poland and Slovenia and to compare these with the existing value sets. Methods Discrete-choice experiments were carried out in Hungary, Poland and Slovenia. Data were collected through an online survey between November 2018 and January 2019, using representative samples of 1000 respondents per country. Tarifs were calculated from coefcient estimates from panel mixed multinomial logit models with random parameters. Results All seven CarerQol domains contributed signifcantly to the utility associated with diferent caregiving situations. Attributes valued highest were ‘physical health’ (tarifs for no problems were 15.6–21.8), ‘mental health’ (18.1–18.9) and ‘fulflment’ (16.3–22.9). Value sets were comparable across the countries, although in Poland ‘a lot of fulflment’ was valued higher (22.9) than in Hungary (16.3) and Slovenia (17.1). Compared with existing value sets, in the three Central European countries, ‘fulflment’ was more important, whereas ‘fnancial problems’ were less important. Conclusion For the frst time in the Central and Eastern European region, country-specifc tarifs are now available for the Hungarian, Polish and Slovenian versions of the CarerQol instrument. This facilitates inclusion of the impact of informal care in economic evaluations. Our results can be used to develop and evaluate country-specifc health policy strategies to support informal caregivers. The diferences found in informal care preferences highlight the limited transferability of CarerQol tarifs across European regions.