[Women's willingness to pay for cancer screening].
OBJECTIVE
The goal of this study is to measure women's willingness to pay for cancer screening and to identify those factors associated with this willingness to pay


METHODS
A population-based telephone survey was performed on 1,562 women (aged 30 years or over) for 2 weeks (9-23th, July, 2004). Data about sociodemographic characteristics, health behaviors, the intention of the cancer screenings and willingness to pay for cancer screening were collected. 1,400 respondents were included in the analysis. The women's willingness to pay for cancer screening and the factors associated with this willingness to pay were evaluated.


RESULTS
The results show that 76% of all respondents have a willingness to pay for cancer screening. Among those who are willing to pay, the average and median amount of money for which the respondents are willing to pay are 126,636 (s.d.: 58,414) and 120,000 won, respectively. As the status of education & the income are higher, the average amount that women are willing to pay becomes much more. The amount of money women are willing to pay is the highest during the 'contemplation' stage. Being willing to pay or not is associated with a change of behavior (transtheoretical model), the income, the concern about the cancer risk, the family cancer history, the marital status, the general health exam, age and the place of residence. Income is associated with a greater willingness to pay. Old age was associated with a lower willingness to pay.


CONCLUSIONS
According to the two-part model, income and TTM are the most important variables associated with the willingness to pay for cancer screening. The cancer screening participation rate is low compared with the willingness to pay for cancer screening. It is thought that we have to consider the participants' behavior that's associated with cancer screening and their willingness to pay in order to organize and manage cancer screening program.
Kwak
Min-Son
MS
Research Institute for National Cancer Control and Evaluation, National Cancer Center.
Sung
Na-Young
NY
Yang
Jeong Hee
JH
Park
Eun-Cheol
EC
Choi
KuiSon
K
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005382:Financing, Personal; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000191:economics*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000191:economics*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors