Job preference of preventive medicine students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a discrete choice experiment survey in Shandong Province, China
Abstract Background Public health workers are a crucial part of the health workforce, particularly during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. They play an important role in achieving universal health coverage and sustainable development goals. Human resources in public health in China are i...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2023-11-01
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| Series: | BMC Medical Education |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-023-04873-2 |
| _version_ | 1797414820636524544 |
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| author | Zhuang Tian Wei Guo Min Zhai Hongmin Li |
| author_facet | Zhuang Tian Wei Guo Min Zhai Hongmin Li |
| author_sort | Zhuang Tian |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Public health workers are a crucial part of the health workforce, particularly during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. They play an important role in achieving universal health coverage and sustainable development goals. Human resources in public health in China are in short supply, their distribution is unequal, and their turnover rate is high. A discrete choice experiment (DCE) was applied to investigate preventive medicine students’ preferred job choice criteria and trends in trade-offs by calculating the marginal rate of substitution between these criteria. This study identified the properties of jobs primarily selected by preventive medicine students and estimated the monetary value of each attribute. Methods Based on discussions and in-depth interviews with preventive medicine students and a literature review, we developed a DCE that assessed how students’ stated preferences for a certain choice were influenced by several job attributes, including location, salary, bianzhi, career development opportunities, working environment, and workload. We applied this DCE to preventive medicine students in Shandong Province, China, using a brief, structured questionnaire. Conditional logit models were used to estimate the utility of each job’s attributes. Willingness to pay (WTP) was estimated as the ratio of the value of the coefficient of interest to the negative value of the cost attribute. Results A total of 307 respondents completed the questionnaire, and 261 passed the internal consistency test. All the attributes were statistically significant. Career development opportunities and work locations were the most important factors for the respondents. Preference heterogeneity existed among respondents, e.g., 3-year medical education college students placed a higher value on jobs with bianzhi compared to 5-year medical education college students. Furthermore, rural students’ WTP for a job located in the county or city is much lower than that of urban students. Conclusions The heterogeneity of attributes indicates the complexity of job preferences. Monetary and nonmonetary job characteristics significantly influenced the job preferences of preventive medicine students in China. A more effective policy intervention to attract graduates to work in rural areas should consider both job incentives and the backgrounds of preventive medicine graduates. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T05:39:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c78b76741edb42d0ab2cddf89b67c871 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1472-6920 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T05:39:31Z |
| publishDate | 2023-11-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Medical Education |
| spelling | doaj.art-c78b76741edb42d0ab2cddf89b67c8712023-12-03T12:26:32ZengBMCBMC Medical Education1472-69202023-11-0123111110.1186/s12909-023-04873-2Job preference of preventive medicine students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a discrete choice experiment survey in Shandong Province, ChinaZhuang Tian0Wei Guo1Min Zhai2Hongmin Li3School of Public Health, Jining Medical UniversityPublic Health Service Center in Rencheng DistrictSchool of Public Health, Jining Medical UniversitySchool of Public Health, Jining Medical UniversityAbstract Background Public health workers are a crucial part of the health workforce, particularly during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. They play an important role in achieving universal health coverage and sustainable development goals. Human resources in public health in China are in short supply, their distribution is unequal, and their turnover rate is high. A discrete choice experiment (DCE) was applied to investigate preventive medicine students’ preferred job choice criteria and trends in trade-offs by calculating the marginal rate of substitution between these criteria. This study identified the properties of jobs primarily selected by preventive medicine students and estimated the monetary value of each attribute. Methods Based on discussions and in-depth interviews with preventive medicine students and a literature review, we developed a DCE that assessed how students’ stated preferences for a certain choice were influenced by several job attributes, including location, salary, bianzhi, career development opportunities, working environment, and workload. We applied this DCE to preventive medicine students in Shandong Province, China, using a brief, structured questionnaire. Conditional logit models were used to estimate the utility of each job’s attributes. Willingness to pay (WTP) was estimated as the ratio of the value of the coefficient of interest to the negative value of the cost attribute. Results A total of 307 respondents completed the questionnaire, and 261 passed the internal consistency test. All the attributes were statistically significant. Career development opportunities and work locations were the most important factors for the respondents. Preference heterogeneity existed among respondents, e.g., 3-year medical education college students placed a higher value on jobs with bianzhi compared to 5-year medical education college students. Furthermore, rural students’ WTP for a job located in the county or city is much lower than that of urban students. Conclusions The heterogeneity of attributes indicates the complexity of job preferences. Monetary and nonmonetary job characteristics significantly influenced the job preferences of preventive medicine students in China. A more effective policy intervention to attract graduates to work in rural areas should consider both job incentives and the backgrounds of preventive medicine graduates.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-023-04873-2Job preferencePreventive medicine studentsRural health servicesDiscrete choice experiment |
| spellingShingle | Zhuang Tian Wei Guo Min Zhai Hongmin Li Job preference of preventive medicine students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a discrete choice experiment survey in Shandong Province, China BMC Medical Education Job preference Preventive medicine students Rural health services Discrete choice experiment |
| title | Job preference of preventive medicine students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a discrete choice experiment survey in Shandong Province, China |
| title_full | Job preference of preventive medicine students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a discrete choice experiment survey in Shandong Province, China |
| title_fullStr | Job preference of preventive medicine students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a discrete choice experiment survey in Shandong Province, China |
| title_full_unstemmed | Job preference of preventive medicine students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a discrete choice experiment survey in Shandong Province, China |
| title_short | Job preference of preventive medicine students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a discrete choice experiment survey in Shandong Province, China |
| title_sort | job preference of preventive medicine students during the covid 19 pandemic a discrete choice experiment survey in shandong province china |
| topic | Job preference Preventive medicine students Rural health services Discrete choice experiment |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-023-04873-2 |
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