Choosing health care: A view from the sociological literature

Promotion of choice is a common theme in both policy discourses and commercial marketing claims about health care.  But how do healthcare 'consumers' or patients understand and experience choice?  In this paper we review the sociological literature on the practice of healthcare choice and decision making along two dimensions.  First, we identify and compare the literature in terms of the key arenas and scope of choice (for instance, between public and private health care services; decisions about whether or not to undergo particular tests or procedures; choice of conventional medical and/or CAMS treatment options; and the national and international contexts for health care choice).  We also identify and analyse the primary metaphors and concepts associated with healthcare choice, including navigation, individualism, interactions with healthcare practitioners, risk and trust.  We argue that more attention must be made to researching and theorising the limits of healthcare choice and the differential capacity to choose.