Introduction: Chronic diseases have affected the health and quality of life of people in a vast number of countries. Critically, chronic diseases have been rapidly increasing worldwide and inflicting a heavy burden on...Introduction: Chronic diseases have affected the health and quality of life of people in a vast number of countries. Critically, chronic diseases have been rapidly increasing worldwide and inflicting a heavy burden on society. As such, health screening has been applied to reduce individuals’ risks of developing chronic diseases and to initiate health promotion or disease prevention. However, the participant rate is low, especially for people living in rural areas. The purpose of this study was to identify the factors that influence people’s decisions to undergo health screening. Method: Semi-structured interviews were undertaken for 16 people aged between 30 - 60 years, and all interviewees had never attended health screening at our hospital despite being invited. Interviewees were from four districts in Taiwan: Anle District of Keelung City;and Ruifang, Gongliao, and Wanli Districts of New Taipei City. These districts were sampled to represent urban and rural areas, respectively, and people in these rural areas were suspected to have high risk of metabolic diseases, kidney and lung diseases or cancers. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim, and NVivo 11 was used for data management. Result: Six motivating factors or barriers were identified: 1) Health attitudes and beliefs about the benefits of participating in health screening;2) expectation of health screening from the perspective of participants;3) cost consideration;4) impact of social influence on willingness to participate in health screening;5) the experiences of health screening;and 6) practical motivations or barriers of undergoing health screening. Conclusion: Health attitudes and beliefs about the benefits of having a health screening, personal health expectations, and free health services were identified as the top three important factors that influence a resident’s decision to undergo health screening for chronic diseases in Taiwan.展开更多
The provision of high-quality medical care has become a key challenge in many countries. At the same time, there is a growing awareness that the early detection of chronic diseases can reduce mortality rates. Therefor...The provision of high-quality medical care has become a key challenge in many countries. At the same time, there is a growing awareness that the early detection of chronic diseases can reduce mortality rates. Therefore, it is important to identify service needs which influence to participate in health screening. To date, little research has been conducted into the perspectives of service providers on this topic. In this preliminary study, we aimed to explore the perspectives of service providers who work in a community-based setting in order to identify perceived barriers to chronic disease screening and incentives which can increase participation rates. In-depth interviews were conducted with 10 experienced health service providers from October 2017 to December 2017. Interviewees included physicians and community health representatives who had been working in a community-based health screening service for at least 3 years. The study identified several aspects of health screening services for chronic diseases that are in need of improvement, including a shortage of appropriate health service providers, inadequate attendance promoting measures, a lack of continually accessible and affordable medical services, healthcare professionals who possess inadequate communication skills, and rural-urban health care disparities. Service providers believe that current services do not fulfill community needs. Older adults who live in rural areas experience especially significant screening-related health disparities, which are mainly affected by structural service barriers. To improve the quality of medical services, healthcare screening services should be evaluated according to the perspectives of both participants and service providers.展开更多
文摘Introduction: Chronic diseases have affected the health and quality of life of people in a vast number of countries. Critically, chronic diseases have been rapidly increasing worldwide and inflicting a heavy burden on society. As such, health screening has been applied to reduce individuals’ risks of developing chronic diseases and to initiate health promotion or disease prevention. However, the participant rate is low, especially for people living in rural areas. The purpose of this study was to identify the factors that influence people’s decisions to undergo health screening. Method: Semi-structured interviews were undertaken for 16 people aged between 30 - 60 years, and all interviewees had never attended health screening at our hospital despite being invited. Interviewees were from four districts in Taiwan: Anle District of Keelung City;and Ruifang, Gongliao, and Wanli Districts of New Taipei City. These districts were sampled to represent urban and rural areas, respectively, and people in these rural areas were suspected to have high risk of metabolic diseases, kidney and lung diseases or cancers. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim, and NVivo 11 was used for data management. Result: Six motivating factors or barriers were identified: 1) Health attitudes and beliefs about the benefits of participating in health screening;2) expectation of health screening from the perspective of participants;3) cost consideration;4) impact of social influence on willingness to participate in health screening;5) the experiences of health screening;and 6) practical motivations or barriers of undergoing health screening. Conclusion: Health attitudes and beliefs about the benefits of having a health screening, personal health expectations, and free health services were identified as the top three important factors that influence a resident’s decision to undergo health screening for chronic diseases in Taiwan.
文摘The provision of high-quality medical care has become a key challenge in many countries. At the same time, there is a growing awareness that the early detection of chronic diseases can reduce mortality rates. Therefore, it is important to identify service needs which influence to participate in health screening. To date, little research has been conducted into the perspectives of service providers on this topic. In this preliminary study, we aimed to explore the perspectives of service providers who work in a community-based setting in order to identify perceived barriers to chronic disease screening and incentives which can increase participation rates. In-depth interviews were conducted with 10 experienced health service providers from October 2017 to December 2017. Interviewees included physicians and community health representatives who had been working in a community-based health screening service for at least 3 years. The study identified several aspects of health screening services for chronic diseases that are in need of improvement, including a shortage of appropriate health service providers, inadequate attendance promoting measures, a lack of continually accessible and affordable medical services, healthcare professionals who possess inadequate communication skills, and rural-urban health care disparities. Service providers believe that current services do not fulfill community needs. Older adults who live in rural areas experience especially significant screening-related health disparities, which are mainly affected by structural service barriers. To improve the quality of medical services, healthcare screening services should be evaluated according to the perspectives of both participants and service providers.
