Abstract
The aim of this study was to rank capabilities and suggest a relevant set of capabilities for the Swedish context to inform the development of capability-adjusted life years (CALYs). CALYs is a quality of life measure for policy making based on the capability approach by Amartya Sen. A Swedish governmental review proposed the following 10 relevant capabilities: time, financial situation, mental/physical health, political resources, knowledge, living environment, occupation, social relations, security, and housing. Researchers in health-related disciplines from 5 universities ranked these capabilities from 1 to 10 (most to least important) in a web-based cross-sectional survey; 115 of 171 responses were eligible. Health, social relations, and financial situation were deemed most important. Stratification by gender, research field, and age group revealed few differences. We found that it was possible to rank capabilities and that health, social relations, and financial situation were ranked highest by a non-representative sample of researchers and doctoral students from health-related disciplines at five Swedish universities. The revealed ranking is dependent on the metric and must be further explored. The findings support continued development of CALYs for monitoring and evaluating outcomes in public health and social-welfare interventions.
Highlights
The aim of this study was to rank capabilities and suggest a relevant set of capabilities for the Swedish context to inform the development of capability-adjusted life years (CALYs)
We found that it was possible to rank capabilities and that health, social relations, and financial situation were ranked highest by a non-representative sample of researchers and doctoral students from healthrelated disciplines at five Swedish universities
Sometimes cost-effectiveness analyses or cost-utility analyses based on qualityadjusted life years (QALYs) are used when evaluating intersectoral public health interventions [1, 2]
Summary
The aim of this study was to rank capabilities and suggest a relevant set of capabilities for the Swedish context to inform the development of capability-adjusted life years (CALYs). CALYs is a quality of life measure for policy making based on the capability approach by Amartya Sen. Monitoring and evaluation within the areas of public health and social welfare involve conceptual and analytical challenges. In evaluations with a societal perspective, the estimation of productivity gains and changes in resource use are most common. For sectorial perspectives such as health care or social care, often only changes in resource use are included. Sometimes cost-effectiveness analyses or cost-utility analyses based on qualityadjusted life years (QALYs) are used when evaluating intersectoral public health interventions [1, 2]
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