TY - JOUR
T1 - A discrete choice experiment studying students' preferences for scholarships to private medical schools in Japan
AU - Goto, Rei
AU - Kakihara, Hiroaki
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors are grateful to Kuniyasu Aoki for the kind cooperation given to the survey. This research was partially funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research, “Change in time and risk preference and effects of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation on their change.”
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Goto and Kakihara.
PY - 2016/2/9
Y1 - 2016/2/9
N2 - Background: The shortage of physicians in rural areas and in some specialties is a societal problem in Japan. Expensive tuition in private medical schools limits access to them particularly for students from middle- and low-income families. One way to reduce this barrier and lessen maldistribution is to offer conditional scholarships to private medical schools. Methods: A discrete choice experiment is carried out on a total of 374 students considering application to medical schools. The willingness to receive a conditional scholarship program to private medical schools is analyzed. Results: The probability of attending private medical schools significantly decreased because of high tuition, a postgraduate obligation to provide a service in specific specialty areas, and the length of time of this obligation. An obligation to provide a service in rural regions had no significant effect on this probability. To motivate non-applicants to private medical schools to enroll in such schools, a decrease in tuition to around 1.2 million yen (US$ 12 000) or less, which is twice that of public schools, was found to be necessary. Further, it was found that non-applicants to private medical schools choose to apply to such schools even with restrictions if they have tuition support at the public school level. Conclusions: Conditional scholarships for private medical schools may widen access to medical education and simultaneously provide incentives to work in insufficiently served areas.
AB - Background: The shortage of physicians in rural areas and in some specialties is a societal problem in Japan. Expensive tuition in private medical schools limits access to them particularly for students from middle- and low-income families. One way to reduce this barrier and lessen maldistribution is to offer conditional scholarships to private medical schools. Methods: A discrete choice experiment is carried out on a total of 374 students considering application to medical schools. The willingness to receive a conditional scholarship program to private medical schools is analyzed. Results: The probability of attending private medical schools significantly decreased because of high tuition, a postgraduate obligation to provide a service in specific specialty areas, and the length of time of this obligation. An obligation to provide a service in rural regions had no significant effect on this probability. To motivate non-applicants to private medical schools to enroll in such schools, a decrease in tuition to around 1.2 million yen (US$ 12 000) or less, which is twice that of public schools, was found to be necessary. Further, it was found that non-applicants to private medical schools choose to apply to such schools even with restrictions if they have tuition support at the public school level. Conclusions: Conditional scholarships for private medical schools may widen access to medical education and simultaneously provide incentives to work in insufficiently served areas.
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U2 - 10.1186/s12960-016-0102-2
DO - 10.1186/s12960-016-0102-2
M3 - Article
C2 - 26860992
AN - SCOPUS:84957863104
SN - 1478-4491
VL - 14
JO - Human Resources for Health
JF - Human Resources for Health
IS - 1
M1 - 4
ER -
