Discussion: Making Sense of Patients’ Perspectives, Experiences, and Preferences in HTA

Abstract

Qualitative research methods have been developed several decades ago and have been applied since then to further knowledge in many social scientific disciplines. Numerous qualitative research communities have been actively sharing their expertise and insights in fields that are closely related to HTA such as sociology of health and illness, healthcare management, health policy, and knowledge synthesis. As a result, there exists today a rich body of scholarship that deepens our understanding of the strengths, limitations, and comparative relevance of specific established qualitative data collection techniques (interviews, focus groups, observation) and explores how innovative qualitative approaches could tap on online environments and tools, including social media (Khodyakov et al. 2016; Marques 2009). Building on this diversified and mature scholarship, four chapters in Part II of this book provide readers with clear guidance on the ways in which particular qualitative methods can help HTA practitioners to elicit patients’ perspectives, experiences, and preferences. These chapters also contribute to the science of HTA by making more explicit the epistemological underpinnings of the “patient’s view.” Along these lines, the current chapter critically discusses the kinds of patient-based evidence one may generate through qualitative methods (1), summarizes key lessons from the four chapters (2), identifies methodological challenges that lie ahead (3), and formulates take-home epistemological messages for the consolidation of patient-based HTA (4).