Preferences for suicide prevention strategies among university students in Japan: a cross-sectional study using full-profile conjoint analysis

Mental health service preferences of patients and providers: a scoping review of conjoint analysis and discrete choice experiments from global public health literature over the last 20 years (1999-2019)

BACKGROUND

In designing, adapting, and integrating mental health interventions, it is pertinent to understand patients' needs and their own perceptions and values in receiving care. Conjoint analysis (CA) and discrete choice experiments (DCEs) are survey-based preference-elicitation approaches that, when applied to healthcare settings, offer opportunities to quantify and rank the healthcare-related choices of patients, providers, and other stakeholders. However, a knowledge gap exists in characterizing the extent to which DCEs/CA have been used in designing mental health services for patients and providers.

METHODS

We performed a scoping review from the past 20 years (2009-2019) to identify and describe applications of conjoint analysis and discrete choice experiments. We searched the following electronic databases: Pubmed, CINAHL, PsychInfo, Embase, Cochrane, and Web of Science to identify stakehold,er preferences for mental health services using Mesh terms. Studies were categorized according to pertaining to patients, providers and parents or caregivers.

RESULTS

Among the 30 studies we reviewed, most were published after 2010 (24/30, 80%), the majority were conducted in the United States (11/30, 37%) or Canada (10/30, 33%), and all were conducted in high-income settings. Studies more frequently elicited preferences from patients or potential patients (21/30, 70%) as opposed to providers. About half of the studies used CA while the others utilized DCEs. Nearly half of the studies sought preferences for mental health services in general (14/30, 47%) while a quarter specifically evaluated preferences for unipolar depression services (8/30, 27%). Most of the studies sought stakeholder preferences for attributes of mental health care and treatment services (17/30, 57%).

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, preference elicitation approaches have been increasingly applied to mental health services globally in the past 20 years. To date, these methods have been exclusively applied to populations within the field of mental health in high-income countries. Prioritizing patients' needs and preferences is a vital component of patient-centered care - one of the six domains of health care quality. Identifying patient preferences for mental health services may improve quality of care and, ultimately, increase acceptability and uptake of services among patients. Rigorous preference-elicitation approaches should be considered, especially in settings where mental health resources are scarce, to illuminate resource allocation toward preferred service characteristics especially within low-income settings.

What character strengths are protective factors for suicidal ideation?: A cross-sectional study in Japan

One factor that has been studied as a protective factor for suicide is character strength and there are many studies that examined the relationship between gratitude and suicide. The problem of character strength research on suicide prevention is that the link between various character strengths and suicide has not been comprehensively examined. We explored which character strength is associated with suicidal ideation. The study is a cross-sectional, self-administered questionnaire survey. Participants were 2,000 Internet users in Japan aged 20 years or older. The online survey covered suicidal ideation, character strengths and demographic details. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis was performed with the suicidal ideation as the dependent variable and character strengths as the independent variable. A significant regression equation was found (F (22, 1977) = 64.65, P < 0.001), with an R² of 0.42. 'Engagement' (B = -0.38, P < 0.001), 'Love' (B = -0.33, P = 0.001), and 'Risk-taking' (B = 0.40, P < 0.001) were significant predictors of suicidal ideation. The positive trait of being able to actively engage with people and build a loving relationship could be a protective factor for suicide.