Although considered an intangible emotion, hope has a considerable influence in healthcare outcomes. It impacts treatment choices, guides behaviour, and influences people’s experience of an illness. For someone with a serious health condition, treatment decisions are rarely driven by data alone. Even a small chance of improvement or extra time can provide significant reassurance to patients.(1,2) Quantifying the “value of hope” is an effort to acknowledge this powerful human response in systems that typically emphasize only the numbers and averages.(1-3)
Conventional evaluations of a treatment’s value revolve around quantifiable outcomes, such as survival, symptom improvement, quality of life scores, and cost-effectiveness. These metrics are crucial; however, they do not fully depict patients’ perspectives about facing uncertain futures. People often weigh the opportunity of a transformative benefit more seriously than a surefire yet modest improvement. This behaviour is particularly prevalent in conditions with limited treatment choices, where just the hope can impact decision-making as effectively as clinical evidence.(2, 3)
Identifying this, health economists and researchers have started exploring ways to integrate hope into value assessments.(3) Rather than looking just at the average expected outcome of a treatment, some methodologies consider the entire scale of possible benefits. Others directly obtain patient preferences through surveys or choice experiments. These approaches do not claim that hope replaces evidence. But they acknowledge the meaningful contribution of hope to people’s assessments of their options. When described responsibly, it provides a more comprehensive picture of what “value” truly means to those living with illnesses.(2-4)
In many therapeutic areas, including cancer, rare diseases, and progressive chronic conditions, hope can become a lifeline, motivating patients to stay involved in their care, follow treatments, or choose new options. Even the knowledge that a treatment can possibly bring about a significant change can enhance emotional resilience and perceived well-being. If this dimension is ignored, there is a risk of devaluing treatments that are significant to patients and families.(1-3)
Measuring hope itself is difficult, but the importance of quantifying hope was realised long back. Standardized scales have been designed to facilitate this quantification: for instance, the Herth Hope Index (HHI) was developed and validated in the early 90s.(5) Nevertheless, empirical evidence on the correlation between hope, healthcare utilization, and outcomes is nuanced, and not all studies establish a direct link between higher hope and enhanced health expenditure or survival. This highlights the need for careful consideration in understanding and applying hope-related data in economic and overall health-related decision-making.(6, 7)
Quantifying the value of hope during conventional decision-making requires robust research, ethical considerations, and vigorous methods that balance patient perspectives with evidence-based assessments. Yet the growing interest indicates a change toward more human-centred health policy. With the ever evolving healthcare landscape, quantifying hope is not just an academic exercise, but a step toward recognizing the full impact of medical innovation. By considering hope as part of the value equation, the landscape can move towards healthcare that respects what patients truly pursue – the possibility of a better future.
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References
- Clarke S, Oakley J. Where There’s Hope, There’s Life 1 : On the Importance of Hope in Health Care. J Med Philos. 2025; 50(1):13-24.
- Berntzen H, Rustoen T, Kyno NM. “Hope at a crossroads” – Experiences of hope in intensive care patients: A qualitative study. Australian Critical Care. 2024; 37(1):120-126.
- Reed SD, Yang JC, Gonzalez JM, Johnson FR. Quantifying Value of Hope. Value Health. 2021; 24(10):1511-1519.
- Hong J, Bae EY, Yu S. The Value of Hope in Cancer Care: Risk Preference and Heterogeneity in Cancer Patients and the General Public. Value Health. 2025; 28(8):1259-1267.
- Herth K. Abbreviated instrument to measure hope: development and psychometric evaluation. J Adv Nurs. 1992; 17(10):1251-9.
- Chay J, Huynh VA, Cheung YB, et al. The relationship between hope, medical expenditure and survival among advanced cancer patients. Front Psychol. 2023; 14.
- Fukuhara S, Kurita N, Wakita T, et al. A scale for measuring health-related hope: its development and psychometric testing. Annals of Clinical Epidemiology. 2019; 3.
