CarerQol-7D tariff
The CarerQol-7D tariff is a tool that helps measure how informal caregiving affects caregivers' quality of life. It converts responses about caregiving burden into standard scores so that the impact of informal care can be included in health economic studies.
At a glance
Use when
Conducting economic evaluations from a societal perspective that require valuation of informal care impacts; when using the CarerQol-7D to measure caregiver burden and needing utility weights for QALY-like calculations.
Avoid when
When caregiver burden is not relevant to the intervention; when country-specific tariffs are needed but not available; when more granular or longitudinal valuation of care is required beyond the seven dimensions.
Inputs
Profiles described by the CarerQol-7D: seven dimensions each with three levels (no, some, a lot) – physical health, mental health, social activities, daily activities, relationship, fulfillment, financial support.
Outputs
Utility score (tariff value) representing the relative quality of life impact of a given informal care situation.
How it works
The CarerQol-7D tariff was developed using a discrete choice experiment (DCE) with data from 992 members of the Dutch general population. It assigns utility scores to informal care situations based on seven burden dimensions: physical health, mental health, social activities, daily activities, relationship with care recipient, fulfillment, and financial support. A panel mixed multinomial logit model with main and interaction effects (including a significant interaction between physical and mental health) was used to derive relative utility weights. The tariff enables the calculation of utility scores for use in economic evaluations from CarerQol-7D descriptive profiles.
- HTA domains
- Patient and Social Aspects
- Categories
- HRQoL
- Assumptions
- Preferences of the general population reflect societal valuation of informal care; caregiving impacts can be adequately captured in seven dimensions with three levels; utility is additive with one interaction term; Dutch population preferences are applicable in other contexts (with caution).
- Strengths
- Based on a large DCE with robust statistical modeling; includes interaction effects; derived from general population preferences; enables standardized inclusion of informal care in economic evaluations; validated and published in peer-reviewed literature.
- Limitations
- Limited to Dutch population, potentially limiting generalizability; three-level categorization may oversimplify burden; does not capture intensity or duration of care; reliance on hypothetical scenarios in DCE may affect realism.
- Also known as
- CarerQol tariff, CarerQol-7D utility weights
Questions this answers
- › What is the impact of informal care on caregivers' quality of life?
- › How can informal care be valued for inclusion in economic evaluations?
- › Which dimensions of caregiving most influence caregiver well-being?
- › What utility score corresponds to a given caregiving situation described by the CarerQol-7D?
- › How do physical and mental health problems interact in affecting caregiver utility?
- › How can societal perspective be operationalized in HTA regarding informal care?
References & sources
Similar by meaning
- AQoL-8D (Assessment of Quality of Life - 8 Dimensions)
- ReQoL-UI (Recovering Quality of Life - Utility Index)
- MHQoL (Mental Health Quality of Life Questionnaire) value set
- 15D
- Obtaining EQ-5D-5L utilities from the disease specific quality of life Alzheimer’s disease scale: development and results from a mapping study
Beta record. Generated from the primary source via AI extraction and independent audit, pending final human review.