Early detection of diseases holds the key to secondary prevention. The purpose of this study was to understand the utilization, behavior of self-paid physical examination and its related factors among a group of middle aged and older persons in central Taiwan.
Data were collected from patients at a local hospital in Taichung, using a structured questionnaire. A total of 469 patients gave their consents and completed the questionnaire. Information about their
demographic statistics, life style, chronic disease status, self-rated current health status, the accessibility and cognitive on physical, social support, concept of self-paid physical examination, adult health
examination of prevention health services, previous experiences of free health screening and check-ups were collected.
The main findings were as follows:
(1)The rate of had self-paid physical examination for the middle aged and the elder persons was 26.65%.
(2)The middle-aged and older persons having past experience of self-paid physical examination were more likely to examine at Medical Center. Their acceptable cost around NTD 10,000 to 20,000 and acceptable cost below 3,000 in the next. Subjects also expressed that they would like to have their boold, urine, liver and gallbladder functions checked.
The middle-aged and older persons who never had experiences of self-paid physical examination were more likely to examine at local hospital. Their acceptable costs were below NTD 3,000. Subjects want to focus on blood test and liver function checked.
(3)The variables of belief of self-paid physical examination and numbers of chronic disease were significant factors in predicting the self-paid physical examination among this group of middle-aged and older
persons.
(4)Age, education level, relatives and friends told about information of physical examination, aware of self- paid physical examination, residence, monthly income, live expenses, self-rated current health status were correlated with the use of self-paid physical examination of middle-aged and older persons among this sample of adults.
(5)The logistic regression results indicates that relatives and friends told about the information of physical examination, living in urban areas and monthly income above NTD 5,001 were more likely to use self-paid physical examination.
Key words: middle-aged and older adult, self-paid physical examination, utilization behavior, central Taiwan.
