THETA is advancing efforts to incorporate the values of patients, carers, health-care providers and society into health technology assessment. Led by Dr. Fiona Miller, the Health Policy and Ethics Division seeks to advance efforts to incorporate ethics and social values into HTA research, and advance research into the role of HTA across the technology life cycle – from innovation to adoption to disinvestment. The division also serves as the source of expertise in qualitative methods at THETA.

Integrating ethics and social values into HTA

Abelson J, Bombard Y, Gauvin FP, Simeonov D, Boesveld S (2013). Assessing the impacts of citizen deliberations on the HTA process. International Journal on Technology Assessment in Health Care. Int J Technol Assess Health Care. 2013 Jul;29(3):282-9. doi: 10.1017/S0266462313000299. [Epub ahead of print]

Bombard Y, Abelson J, Simeonov D, Gauvin FP. Citizens' perspectives on personalized medicine: A qualitative public deliberation study (2013). European Journal of Human Genetics. Jan 23. doi: 10.1038/ejhg.2012.300. [Epub ahead of print]

Boon H, N Kachan, A Boecker. “Use of natural health products: How does being “natural” impact choice?” Medical Decision Making. 2013; 33(2):282-297

Abelson, J, Wagner, F, Levin, Bombard Y, Gauvin FP (2012). Consulting Ontario Citizens to Inform the Evaluation of Health Technologies: The Citizens’ Reference Panel on Health Technologies. In: Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Citizen Engagement in Health Casebook, edited by Venuta R. (Ottawa: Canadian Institutes of Health Research)

Culyer, Anthony J., and Yvonne Bombard. "An equity framework for health technology assessments." Medical Decision Making 32, no. 3 (2012): 428-441.

Tsui T, H Boon, A Boecker, N Kachan, M Krahn. “Understanding the role of scientific evidence in consumer evaluation of natural health products for osteoarthritis: An application of the means end chain approach.” BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2012; 12:198

Bombard, Yvonne, Julia Abelson, Dorina Simeonov, and Francois-Pierre Gauvin. "Eliciting ethical and social values in health technology assessment: A participatory approach." Social science & medicine 73, no. 1 (2011): 135-144.

Abelson J, Bombard Y, Gauvin FP, Kirilova D (2010). Consulting with Ontario Citizens about Health Technologies. Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care - Ontario Health Technology Advisory Committee. September 2010.

Bombard Y. (2009). Public Engagement Pilot Study on Point-of-care INR Monitoring Devices, Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care - Medical Advisory Secretariat. July 2009.

DeJean D, Giacomini M, Schwartz L, Miller FA. 2009. Ethics in Canadian Health Technology Assessment: A Descriptive Review. International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care. 25(4): 463-469

Health technology policy

Miller FA, Mentzakis E, Axler R, Lehoux P, French M, Tarride JE, Wodchis WP, Wilson BJ, Longo C, Bytautas JP, Slater B. 2013. Do Canadian Researchers and the Lay Public Prioritize Biomedical Research Outcomes Equally? A Choice Experiment. Academic Medicine. Apr;88(4):519-526.

French M, Miller FA. 2012. Leveraging the “living laboratory”: On the Emergence of the Entrepreneurial Hospital. Social Science and Medicine. Aug;75(4):717-24.

Gibson JL, Mitton C, Dubois‐Wing G. Priority setting in the LHINs: ethics and economics in action. Healthcare Quarterly 2011; 14(4):35‐46.

Lehoux P, Williams-Jones B, Miller FA, Urbach D, Tailliez S. 2008. What leads to better health innovation? Arguments for an integrated policy-oriented research agenda. Journal of Health Services Research and Policy. 13(4): 251- 254.

Gibson JL, Mitton C, Martin DK, Donaldson C, Singer PA. Ethics and economics: does program budgeting and marginal analysis contribute to fair priority setting? Journal of Health Services Research & Policy 2006; 11(1):32‐37.

Qualitative methods

Parsons JA & Lavery JV. (2012) Brokered dialogue: A new research method for controversial health and social issues. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 12: 92. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2288/12/92  

Parsons JA, Lavery JV, Rowland W. (2012). FILM: “Great Expectations: A Brokered Dialogue with the Ontario Citizens’ Council”. Funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care through a grant from the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network.

Lavery JV, Parsons JA, Rowland W. (2009 and 2011). FILM: ‘Venus and Mars: A Brokered Dialogue’. (2 versions – short – 15 minutes; long version 35 minutes) Brokered Dialogue Productions. Funded by the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technology in Health (governmental organization). To view see: www.vimeo.com/brokereddialogue

Carroll JC, Miller FA, 2011. Introduction to Qualitative Research. In Harvey BJ, Lang ES, Frank JR (eds.) The Research Guide: A Primer for Residents, Other Health Care Trainees and Practitioners. Ottawa: Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, Chapter 16, 119-130.

Boon HS, Mior SA, Barnsley J, Ashbury FD, Haig, R. “The difference between Integration and collaboration in patient care: Results from key informant interviews working in multiprofessional health care teams” J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2009;32:715-722.

Boon H, Hirschkorn K, Griener G, Cali M “The ethics of dietary supplements and natural health products in pharmacy practice:  A systematic documentary analysis” International Journal of Pharmacy Practice.  2009; 17:31-38.