Family caregivers’ preferences for Home-Based Care Services: Evidence From a Discrete Choice Experiment

Understanding preferences for home-based care services (HBCS) is essential for addressing the persistent mismatch between service supply and demand. Although numerous studies have examined older adults' preferences for HBCS, limited attention has been paid to family caregivers, who often play a key role in HBCS decision-making. This study employs a discrete choice experiment with 567 family caregivers in China to investigate their preferences for HBCS. The results show that caregivers exhibit the strongest preference for medical care services, followed by daily living care, cultural entertainment, and spiritual comfort. They also prefer higher service frequency, local service personnel, and services delivered by public organizations. The findings further reveal substantial heterogeneity in preferences, with three distinct latent classes: "cautious entertainment demanders," "active demanders of basic services," and "price-sensitive negative demanders." These findings deepen understanding of HBCS demand from a family decision-making perspective and provide practical implications for HBCS design.