EVALUATION CRITERIA OF PATIENT AND PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT IN RESOURCE ALLOCATION DECISIONS: A LITERATURE REVIEW AND QUALITATIVE STUDY

Objectives: We developed specific evaluation criteria to assess patient and public involvement in resource allocation decisions in health care. Methods: We reviewed the literature from health and other sectors relevant to stakeholder involvement and conducted twenty-seven key informant interviews with stakeholders knowledgeable about patient and public involvement in Canadian drug resource allocation decisions. We used an inductive qualitative thematic approach to analyze the interviews with codes and categories developed directly from individuals' interview transcripts. Results: Integrating respondents' comments and the literature review, we identified nine evaluation criteria of patient and the public involvement in healthcare resource allocation decision making: clarity regarding rationale and roles of patient and public members, sufficient support, adequate representation of relevant views, fair decision-making processes, legitimacy of committee processes, adequate opportunity for participation, meaningful degree of participation, noticeable effect on decisions, and considerations of the efficiency of patient and public involvement. Conclusions: Our results will help to develop methods to evaluate patient and public involvement in healthcare decision making.