To assess individual preferences for a method of scoliosis surgery, we
surveyed 224 teen-age patients, their parents, orthopaedic surgeons, and
other health professionals. Rather than asking the respondents directly for
the relative importance that they would assign to the four possible
outcomes, we employed conjoint analysis, a preference measurement technique
that is widely used in marketing and psychology. In conjoint analysis,
respondents explicitly trade off the relative desirability of certain
aspects of the outcome of scoliosis surgery--for example, between greater
degree of curve correction or greater risk of reoperation. This study
indicated that risk of nerve damage had the highest relative importance to
the respondents, followed by risk of reoperation, curve correction, and
aftercare, in that order. This ranking was found in all five groups of
respondents.