Outcome measures: Utility values for different exercise attributes and levels.
Main Outcome Measures: Utility weights for each of the 18 FIM items, QOL-weighted FIM scores, and value rulers.
There are two main approaches to measuring utilities, direct measurement and the use of multi-attribute systems.
Several instruments have been developed to measure utilities.
Visual Analogue Scale and standard gamble techniques were used to measure utilities.
When measuring utilities, pre-existing instruments (e.g. HUI, EQ-5D) were used in two-thirds of the studies.
Another concern is that the QALY model uses different techniques to measure utilities and the results vary according to the method used.
Using EQ-5D to measure utilities has the advantage to generate values that can be compared to other conditions, and it can capture the impact of adverse events.
In addition, both multi-attribute utility measures generated utility scores, which decreased monotonically with deteriorating self-reported health status (test for linear trend: p < 0.001).
As of now, most economists measure utility in American dollars, but back in the day they used utils — abstract units of utility — to measure the amount of happiness you'd get out of a given purchase.
