Table 1 Characteristics of respondents, and univariate association of variables affecting (i) perceived change of health seeking behaviours and (ii) use of vouchers upon the introduction of voucher scheme
| Â | Â | (i) Perceived change Whether changed health seeking behaviours | (ii) Use of voucher Whether ever used the vouchers | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Variable | Total | Yes | No | P value of difference | Yes | No | P value of difference |
Demographics | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â |
Sex | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â |
   Men | 437 (42.6) | 118 (29.9) | 277 (70.1) | 0.058 | 147 (35.1) | 272 (64.9) | 0.408 |
   Women | 589 (57.4) | 129 (24.3) | 402 (75.7) |  | 212 (37.7) | 351 (62.3) |  |
Age | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â |
   70 - 79 | 636 (62.2) | 158 (26.9) | 430 (73.1) | 0.599 | 223 (36.3) | 392 (63.7) | 0.577 |
   80 - 89 | 345 (33.7) | 79 (25.8) | 227 (74.2) |  | 125 (37.3) | 210 (62.7) |  |
   90 or above | 42 (4.1) | 10 (34.5) | 19 (65.5) |  | 8 (27.6) | 21 (72.4) |  |
Marital status | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â |
   Single | 42 (4.1) | 10 (27.8) | 26 (72.2) | 0.035 | 13 (31.7) | 28 (68.3) | 0.724 |
   Married | 661 (64.7) | 178 (29.3) | 429 (70.7) |  | 233 (36.5) | 406 (63.5) |  |
   Divorced/Separated Widowed | 319 (31.2) | 59 (21.1) | 221 (78.9) |  | 113 (37.9) | 185 (62.1) |  |
Education level | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â |
   No education | 366 (35.7) | 70 (21.5) | 256 (78.5) | 0.003 | 156 (44.4) | 195 (55.6) | 0.002 |
   Primary | 378 (36.9) | 109 (31.8) | 234 (68.2) |  | 121 (33.3) | 242 (66.7) |  |
   Secondary | 211 (20.6) | 58 (30.1) | 135 (69.9) |  | 62 (31.5) | 135 (68.5) |  |
   Tertiary or above | 70 (6.8) | 10 (15.9) | 53 (84.1) |  | 20 (28.6) | 50 (71.4) |  |
Monthly household income | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â |
   No income | 85 (8.3) | 17 (22.1) | 60 (77.9) | < 0.001 | 21 (26.3) | 59 (73.8) | < 0.001 |
   HK"tabcaption"-9,999 | 352 (34.4) | 61 (18.7) | 265 (81.3) |  | 163 (46.3) | 189 (53.7) |  |
   HK$10,000 or above | 101 (9.9) | 25 (26.6) | 69 (73.4) |  | 34 (34.0) | 66 (66.0) |  |
   Don't know/Not willing to answer | 486 (47.5) | 144 (33.7) | 283 (66.3) |  | 139 (31.0) | 309 (69.0) |  |
Social security assistance | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â |
   Had social security assistance | 102 (9.9) | 27 (30.3) | 62 (69.7) | 0.411 | 35 (35.7) | 63 (64.3) | 0.855 |
Living status | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â |
   Lived alone | 222 (21.7) | 51 (26.0) | 145 (74.0) | 0.792 | 77 (37.7) | 127 (62.3) | 0.654 |
Private health insurance | |||||||
Had private health insurance | 66 (6.5) | 10 (17.2) | 48 (82.8) | 0.088 | 25 (41.0) | 36 (59.0) | 0.442 |
Health condition | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â |
Self-rated health compared with last year | |||||||
   Better | 118 (11.5) | 52 (49.1) | 54 (50.9) | < 0.001 | 28 (25.7) | 81 (74.3) | < 0.001 |
   Similar | 481 (46.9) | 109 (25.5) | 318 (74.5) |  | 147 (32.2) | 309 (67.8) |  |
   Worse | 426 (41.5) | 85 (21.7) | 307 (78.3) |  | 184 (44.1) | 233 (55.9) |  |
Chronic condition | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â |
   Had Diabetes | 243 (23.7) | 48 (22.3) | 167 (77.7) | 0.100 | 78 (34.2) | 150 (65.8) | 0.401 |
   Had high blood pressure | 632 (61.6) | 143 (24.9) | 431 (75.1) | 0.122 | 231 (37.7) | 382 (62.3) | 0.345 |
Medical consultation | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â |
Usually go to see which types of doctors before launch of voucher scheme | |||||||
   Public doctor only | 349 (34.1) | 69 (21.0) | 260 (79.0) | < 0.001 | 82 (23.6) | 265 (76.4) | < 0.001 |
Private doctor only | 201 (19.6) | 41 (22.2) | 144 (77.8) | Â | 98 (49.0) | 102 (51.0) | Â |
Both public and private doctor | 454 (44.3) | 133 (33.3) | 267 (66.8) | Â | 176 (41.6) | 247 (58.4) | Â |
   Don't know | 20 (2.0) | 4 (36.4) | 7 (63.6) |  | 8 (80.0) | 2 (20.0) |  |
Medical consultation in the past one month (excluding the current episode for older people recruited in clinics) | |||||||
Had medical consultation | 421 (41.2) | 88 (22.6) | 302 (77.4) | 0.018 | 199 (47.6) | 219 (52.4) | < 0.001 |
Had hospitalization in the past one year | |||||||
Had hospitalization | 200 (19.8) | 48 (26.2) | 135 (73.8) | 0.946 | 89 (45.4) | 107 (54.6) | 0.004 |