Values and Preferences
Values and Preferences
When used generically as in values and preferences we refer to the collection of goals, expectations, predispositions, and beliefs that individuals have for certain decisions and their potential outcomes. The incorporation of patient values and preferences in decision making is central to EBM. These terms also carry specific meaning in other settings. Measurement tools that require a choice under conditions of uncertainty to indirectly measure preference for an outcome in health economics (such as the standard gamble), quantify preferences. Measurement tools that evaluate the outcome on a scale with defined favorable and unfavorable ends (e.g., visual analog scales or feeling thermometers) quantify values.
Synonyms:
Preferences