Humphreys J S, Weinand H C
Department of Geography and Planning, University of New England, NSW.
Med J Aust. 1991 Jun 3;154(11):733-7. doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1991.tb121311.x.
To identify the preferences of rural Australians for health care services and to relate their attitudes towards health care services in general and preventive health care services in particular to their sociodemographic characteristics and their degree of geographic access to available services.
Both an interview and a delivery-and-collection questionnaire survey were conducted. The method of paired comparisons was used to determine the structure of preferences for a set of health care services.
The study area comprised the small rural settlement of Nyngan, and the surrounding farming lands in the Bogan Shire, New South Wales.
A random sample of 20% of residents was surveyed in October 1989.
In the absence of any studies on the attitudes of rural Australians towards health care services, no a priori hypotheses were formulated. Both the rank order of preferences and a preference interval showing the "distance" between the preferences were calculated.
The results show the overwhelming importance attributed to curative medical services compared to those oriented to preventive health care. In particular, the services provided by the doctor are indisputably the most highly valued of all health care services. The attitudes of rural residents to particular preventive services varied, with those services most relevant to immediate needs being the ones most highly valued.
The felt need for health care among country people centres on the adequate provision of doctors and hospitals; preventive services which address the longer-term health care needs of country people may best be provided by closely integrating them with curative medical services.
确定澳大利亚农村居民对医疗服务的偏好，并将他们对一般医疗服务尤其是预防性医疗服务的态度与其社会人口学特征以及获得现有服务的地理可达程度联系起来。
进行了访谈和发放并回收问卷的调查。采用配对比较法来确定一组医疗服务的偏好结构。
研究区域包括新南威尔士州博根郡宁甘的农村小居民点以及周边农田。
1989年10月对20%的居民进行了随机抽样调查。
由于缺乏关于澳大利亚农村居民对医疗服务态度的研究，未制定先验假设。计算了偏好的排序以及显示偏好之间“距离”的偏好区间。
结果表明，与预防性医疗服务相比，治疗性医疗服务被赋予了压倒性的重要性。特别是，医生提供的服务无疑是所有医疗服务中最受重视的。农村居民对特定预防性服务的态度各不相同，与即时需求最相关的服务最受重视。
农村居民对医疗服务的实际需求集中在医生和医院的充足供应上；解决农村居民长期医疗需求的预防性服务最好通过将其与治疗性医疗服务紧密整合来提供。
