All Rights Reserved
AccessEcon LLC 2006, 2008.
Powered by MinhViet JSC

 
Yen-ju Lin, Tsai-ching Liu and Chin-shyan Chen
 
''Healthcare Information and the Utilization of Pap-smear Testing amongst Taiwanese Women''
( 2012, Vol. 32 No.1 )
 
 
This study is to investigate the determinants of healthcare information amongst women in Taiwan aged between 25 and 69 years, and the association with cervical cancer screening.A two-stage estimation model was adopted for this investigation. In the first stage, the determinants of healthcare information were estimated by the OLS method, with the predicted values of the healthcare information then being linked to the decision to undergo Pap-smear testing. The nationwide survey dataset was obtained from the 2002‘Health Promotion of Knowledge, Attitudes and Practice' (HPKAP) in Taiwan, provided by the Bureau of Health Promotion. A total of 9,106 individuals were included in the analysis. The results reveal that the variations in the level of healthcare information are an important contributory factor to the utilization of cervical cancer screening in Taiwan. Therefore, in addition to providing free screening under the NHI, it is important for the healthcare authorities to place greater effort into strengthening the knowledge and information on cervical cancer screening and Pap-smear testing, for those who are currently less informed, so as to enhance the overall efficiency of the screening program.
 
 
Keywords: Health information; Pap-smear testing; Cervical cancer; National Health Insurance; Taiwan
JEL:
I1 - Health: General
 
Manuscript Received : Mar 31 2011 Manuscript Accepted : Jan 13 2012

  This abstract has been downloaded 1712 times                The Full PDF of this paper has been downloaded 168569 times