Factors Affecting Male in Taiwan Participating Cancer Screening and Utilization of Medical Services- Use Colon Cancer and Prostate Cancer as Example

• Main Authors: Hung-Tsung Li, 李鴻宗
• Other Authors: Ke-Zong MA
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/79715732255079186503

碩士 === 高雄醫學大學 === 醫務管理學研究所碩士在職專班 === 98 === Objective By using the domestic large-scale health survey data and focus on male participating in colorectal cancer and prostate cancer screening, we analyzed their characteristics of social-demographic factors (such as age, education level, marital status, place of origin, religion, household income and work status), health status (such as health-related Quality of Life, activities of daily living limitations, common chronic diseases), use of medical services over the past year (including outpatient and inpatient), personal health behaviors (such as regular exercise habits, not smoking), understanding their correlations with whether male participating in cancer screening, and then explored the factors affecting male in Taiwan participating cancer screening. The research results can be as the reference for government health policy related to increase uptake of cancer screening. Methods The data of this research comes from the National Health Interview Survey questionnaires of Taiwan in 2001. There are 3,539 male selected, they are over age of 40 and excluding who had the diagnosis of colorectal cancer or prostate cancer over the past year. Statistical analysis has been carried out by using retrospective cross-sectional data. Descriptive and inferential comparative analysis has been conducted by using SPSS14.0 statistical software. Results This study found that men in Taiwan whether to accept cancer screening over the past year show significant differences with the following factors: demographic factors including the age, educational level, marital status, place of origin, household income and work status, health-related Quality of Life (including mental health and physical health), activities of daily living limitations, common chronic diseases, use of medical services over the past year (including the number of outpatient and inpatient visit), personal health behavior (including regular exercise habits, not smoking). The factors affecting male in Taiwan participating cancer screening over the past year include age, educational level, place of origin, household income, common chronic diseases, the number of outpatient visits over the past year, the number of hospitalization over the past year, the fixed habit of exercise and not smoking. Conclusions and suggestions According to this research, we found the factors affecting male in Taiwan whether to accept the cancer screening over the past year, and suggested that the relevant health authorities to set a strategy to improve uptake of cancer screening. For example, they can improve aboriginal accessibility for cancer screening, provide available grant money or other support measures to improve the will for cancer screening of the people with low household income, for people who have no common chronic diseases and people who rarely use medical services, enhance public awareness of the benefits of cancer screening, continue to promote national health behaviors such as regular exercise habits and not smoking. In Taiwan, the proportion of male participating in cancer screening is much lower than developed countries, health authorities should use various channels to propaganda knowledge about the benefits of cancer screening, generally improve the standard of education, and thus improving cancer screening rates, to achieve the goals of improving national health and lowering medical costs of cancer.