Study on home⁃based care service preferences of disabled elderly people in Beijing based on discrete choice experiments

ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to explore the preferences of disabled elderly people for home-based medical care services in Beijing，with a view to enhancing the utilization rate of said services.MethodsUtilizing a discrete choice experimental design and aided by a self⁃designed questionnaire，convenient sampling was conducted for face⁃to⁃face surveys among 253 elderly individuals and their caregivers in two Beijing communities.Preferences for home⁃based medical care services among the disabled elderly were determined using a mixed logit model.ResultsSignificant influences（P<0.05） were found on preferences for home⁃based care among the disabled elderly⁃aspects like payment costs，institutional nature，appointment method，and service content all playing a part.The order of attributes based on willingness to pay are：institutional nature，appointment method，service content and service decisions.Factors including gender，education level，disability degree，income，number of children，and marital status all affect the home care service preferences of disabled elderly individuals.ConclusionHome⁃based disabled elderly individuals prefer lower-cost services from public institutions that can be scheduled online or offline.They prefer not to receive in-home health management services and show no preference towards service decisions or caregiver experience.These findings can be used to cater services better to the preferences and specific characteristics of home-based disabled elderly individuals.