- Title
- Are symbols useful and culturally acceptable in health-state valuation studies?: an exploratory study in a multi-ethnic Asian population
- Creator
- Wee, Hwee-Lin; Li, Shu-Chuen; Zhang, Xu-Hao; Xie, Feng; Feeny, David; Luo, Nan; Cheung, Yin-Bun; Machin, David; Fong, Kok-Yong; Thumboo, Julian
- Relation
- Patient Preference and Adherence Vol. 2, p. 271-276
- Relation
- http://www.dovepress.com/are-symbols-useful-and-culturally-acceptable-in-health-state-valuation-peer-reviewed-article-PPA
- Publisher
- Dove Medical Press
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2008
- Description
- Background: Symbols have been used in health state valuation studies to help subjects distinguish the severity of various characteristics of a given health state. Symbols used in such studies need to be evaluated for their cross-cultural appropriateness because a given symbol may have different meanings or acceptability in different cultures, which may affect results of such studies. Objectives: To evaluate if using symbols to differentiate health states of different severity is useful and culturally acceptable in a multi-ethnic, urban Asian population. Methods: Using in-depth interviews with adult Chinese, Malay, and Indian Singaporeans conducted in English/mother-tongue, subjects were shown a health state with 6 levels (Health Utilities Index 3 vision), each displayed with a symbol, and asked (1a) if symbols were useful in differentiating severity of each level (measured using dichotomous and 0–10 visual analog scale [VAS] scales) or (1b) offensive and (2) to assess 7 alternative sets of symbols. Results: Of 63 subjects (91% response rate), 18 (29%) felt symbols were useful in differentiating severity of each level. Reported usefulness of symbols was fair (median VAS score: 3.0, score exceeding 5.0 for 33% of subjects). One Malay subject felt symbols were offensive. Conclusions: Use of symbols for health state valuation was culturally acceptable and useful for some subjects.
- Subject
- Asian; Southeastern; culture; health status; questionnaires; Singapore
- Identifier
- uon:5747
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/43926
- Identifier
- ISSN:1177-889X
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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