In the fourth edition of looking back at the GHAP project, we return to our work on decision-making amongst medical travellers, which generated a significant amount of data regarding patient choice. Analysis of medical travel focuses on the factors driving the decision to travel for medical reason, the countries of origin and destination, and the medical procedure needed. In this publication, multilevel modelling is the proposed method to support studies on decision-making involved in medical travel using complex discrete choice methods. This assists in considering trade-offs involved in making such decisions. The full technical statistical protocol was published in Frontiers in Psychology in the section Quantitative Psychology and Measurement, and based on the number of reads early on, has clearly been of major interest to researchers in the field.

Abstract

Medical travel has expanded rapidly in recent years, resulting in new markets and increased access to medical care. Whereas several studies investigated the motives of individuals seeking healthcare abroad, the conventional analytical approach is limited by substantial caveats. Classical techniques as found in the literature cannot provide sufficient insight due to the nested nature of data generated. The application of adequate analytical techniques, specifically multilevel modeling, is scarce to non-existent in the context of medical travel. This study introduces the guidelines for application of multilevel techniques in public health research by presenting an application of multilevel modeling in analyzing the decision-making patterns of potential medical travelers. Benefits and potential limitations are discussed.

Garcia-Garzon, E., Zukhovsky, P., Haller, E., Plakolm, S., Petrova, D., Mahalingam, V., Menzes, I. G., & Ruggeri, K. (2016). Multilevel modelling and policy development: Guidelines and applications to medical travel. Frontiers in Psychology, Quantitative Psychology and Measurement, 7(752).