Preferences for home care contracts for an older dependent relative: Evidence from a French discrete choice experiment

Last registered on September 21, 2026
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Preferences for home care contracts for an older dependent relative: Evidence from a French discrete choice experiment
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0019652
Initial registration date
September 11, 2026

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
September 21, 2026, 8:32 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country
France
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Naomie Mahmoudi
Affiliation
Université Lyon 1
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Thomas Lenouard
PI Affiliation
LSAF
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Jean-Louis Rullière
PI Affiliation
LSAF
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2026-11-15
End date
2027-07-15
Keywords
Health
Additional Keywords
discret choice experiment, preferences, contract, home care, long term care
JEL code(s)
H31, J14, J41, C99
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Based on a discrete choice experiment conducted online among 800 respondents aged 40 and over, residing in France, this study aims to understand their preferences for different types of home care contracting arrangements, in the context of caring for a hypothetical elderly relative experiencing loss of autonomy.

Two modes of home care provision are compared: direct employment (a direct contractual arrangement with the care worker) and the agency-based model (an indirect contractual arrangement via a service-providing organization). This comparison is based on five attributes: guarantee of service continuity, staff turnover, administrative burden, deviation from the agreed scope of intervention, and the hourly out-of-pocket cost, each with two or three levels.

Each respondent is randomly assigned one of four situations: he or she is an informal caregiver - who helps with choosing between these two types of care - a dependent older relative who has severe motor limitations, moderate motor limitations, severe cognitive limitations, or moderate cognitive limitations. This design allows us to examine the heterogeneity of preferences according to the type of limitation (physical or cognitive) and its severity, as well as the possible existence of hypothetical bias, by comparing the preferences of hypothetical caregivers with those of actual caregivers of an elderly parent or spouse experiencing loss of autonomy.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Lenouard, Thomas, Naomie Mahmoudi and Jean-Louis Rullière. 2026. "Preferences for home care contracts for an older dependent relative: Evidence from a French discrete choice experiment." AEA RCT Registry. September 21. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.19652-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
This discrete choice experiment aimed at eliciting the preferences of (hypothetical) informal caregivers regarding the contractual arrangements for home care service for an older dependent relative.
Intervention Start Date
2026-11-15
Intervention End Date
2027-02-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The chosen home care service
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Each respondent, aged 40 or over and recruited via the online platform Panel Labs, is randomly assigned 10 choice cards (the last of which must be the same as one of the first three, to check that the choices are consistent). These choice cards were generated using a D-efficient experimental design in SAS software, reducing the 1152 possible combinations to 36 (4 blocks of 9 choice cards).

These cards present the two main types of home care services in France, namely direct employment and the agency-based model, with attribute levels randomized across cards. The order in which the two services are presented is also randomized. These attributes are the following: guaranteed continuity of care, staff turnover, deviation from the scope of te intervention, administrative burden, out-of-pocket (per hour). Each attribute may have between two and three levels.

For each choice card, respondents are asked to indicate which home care service they would prefer for the hypothetical older dependent relative. At the end of each card, they are also asked to rate their certainty regarding their choice on a dedicated scale.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer (with Python and SAS)
Randomization Unit
Randomisation was carried out with regard to the order of the choice cards, the alternatives (i.e. home care services), the attributes and their levels, as well as the profile assigned to respondents.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
X
Sample size: planned number of observations
800
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
200 informal caregiver of an older dependant relative with severe mobility impairments, 200 informal caregiver of an older dependant relative with moderate mobility impairments, 200 informal caregiver of an older dependant relative with severe cognitive impairments, 200 informal caregiver of an older dependant relative with moderate cognitive impairments.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan