The public's views differ systematically after discussion of healthcare priorities

Because small group discussions and citizens' juries are costly ways of seeking the views of the public, we need to know how much people's views change after discussion and deliberation. On p 916 Dolan et al report the effects of focus group discussions on responses to questionnaire items on setting healthcare priorities. Initially, about half of the 60 respondents wanted to give lower priority to smokers, heavy drinkers, and illegal drug users, but after discussion many no longer wished to discriminate against these people. People's views seem to differ systematically when they have been given an opportunity to discuss the issues. This casts doubt on the value of some one-off surveys.

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Relevant Article

Effect of discussion and deliberation on the public's views of priority setting in health care: focus group study

Paul Dolan, Richard Cookson, and Brian Ferguson
BMJ 1999 318: 916-919. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]