Developing a discrete choice experiment in Malawi: eliciting preferences for breast cancer early detection services

BACKGROUND In Malawi, routine breast cancer screening is not available and little is known about women's preferences regarding early detection services. Discrete choice experiments are increasingly used to reveal preferences about new health services; however, selecting appropriate attributes that describe a new health service is imperative to ensure validity of the choice experiment. OBJECTIVE To identify important factors that are relevant to Malawian women's preferences for breast cancer detection services and to select attributes and levels for a discrete choice experiment in a setting where both breast cancer early detection and choice experiments are rare. METHODS We reviewed the literature to establish an initial list of potential attributes and levels for a discrete choice experiment and conducted qualitative interviews with health workers and community women to explore relevant local factors affecting decisions to use cancer detection services. We tested the design through cognitive interviews and refined the levels, descriptions, and designs. RESULTS Themes that emerged from interviews provided critical information about breast cancer detection services, specifically, that breast cancer interventions should be integrated into other health services because asymptomatic screening may not be practical as an individual service. Based on participants' responses, the final attributes of the choice experiment included travel time, health encounter, health worker type and sex, and breast cancer early detection strategy. Cognitive testing confirmed the acceptability of the final attributes, comprehension of choice tasks, and women's abilities to make trade-offs. CONCLUSION Applying a discrete choice experiment for breast cancer early detection was feasible with appropriate tailoring for a low-income, low-literacy African setting.