The promoting effect of health education on medical treatment seeking behavior in the context of healthy China: based on the comparison of migrants and registered local residents

• Published in: China population and development studies 2023-06, Vol.7 (2), p.181-199
• Main Authors: Liu, Luchan, Zhang, Ruili, Huang, Jinjia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Demography; Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Original Article; Population Economics; Social Sciences; Social/Human Development Studies
• ISSN: 2096-448X; 2523-8965
• DOI: 10.1007/s42379-022-00125-w

The migrants are the important participant and contributor in China's economic and social construction, but they still have many restrictions on their access to health services. This paper analyzes the differences between the migrants and the registered local residents in looking for medical treatment and explores the relationship between health education and medical treatment seeking behavior, so as to find an appropriate way to improve the health level of the migrants. By using the comparative survey data of the floating population and registered population in 2017 and establishing the binary Logit model, this paper finds that the health education has a promoting effect on medical treatment seeking behaviors. In terms of the influence mechanism of health education on medical treatment seeking behavior, the mediating effect of social participation factors is stronger in the migrants’ group because making new friends and learning about local public health resources through health education is of great significance to the migrants. It is proposed to expand the coverage of health education among migrant groups and improve the accessibility of health education. At the same time, public medical and health services should be used as a window to guide the migrants to seek medical treatment in an orderly manner while assisting their social integration.