Table 1 Definitions of variables used in the empirical analysis of trust in physicians (China Family Panel Study 2018)
Variable | Description | Percent/mean |
|---|---|---|
Dependent variable | ||
 Public trust in physicians | An ordinal variable with 11 response categories from 0 (completely distrust) to 10 (completely trust) | 6.74a |
Independent variable | ||
Overall patient satisfaction | ||
 Very Unsatisfied | 1 if the individual is very unsatisfied with the condition of health facility he/she often visits; 0 otherwise | 1.51 |
 Unsatisfied | 1 if the individual is unsatisfied with the condition of health facility he/she often visits; 0 otherwise | 8.48 |
 Fair | 1 if the individual is ok with the condition of health facility he/she often visits; 0 otherwise | 22.88 |
 Satisfied | 1 if the individual is satisfied with the condition of health facility he/she often visits; 0 otherwise | 59.40 |
 Very Satisfied | 1 if the individual is very satisfied with the condition of health facility he/she often visits; 0 otherwise | 7.73 |
Patient evaluation of medical expertise and knowledge (physician competency) | ||
 Very Bad | 1 if the individual evaluates medical competency of physician often visited as very bad; 0 otherwise | 1.82 |
 Bad | 1 if the individual evaluates medical competency of physician often visited as bad; 0 otherwise | 10.28 |
 Fair | 1 if the individual evaluates medical competency of physician often visited as fair; 0 otherwise | 33.49 |
 Good | 1 if the individual evaluates medical competency of physician often visited as good; 0 otherwise | 44.33 |
 Very Good | 1 if the individual evaluates medical competency of physician often visited as very good; 0 otherwise | 10.07 |
Age (years) | ||
 16–29 | 1 if the individual is aged 16–29 years; 0 otherwise | 19.69 |
 30–39 | 1 if the individual is aged 30–39 years; 0 otherwise | 16.77 |
 40–49 | 1 if the individual is aged 40–49 years; 0 otherwise | 18.02 |
 50–59 | 1 if the individual is aged 50–59 years; 0 otherwise | 19.72 |
  > =60 | 1 if the individual is aged > = 60 years; 0 otherwise | 25.80 |
Gender | 1 if the individual is male; 0 for female | 49.74 |
Educational attainment | ||
 Illiterate/Semi-literate | 1 if the individual is illiterate or semi-literate; 0 otherwise | 21.66 |
 Elementary school | 1 if the individual attended elementary school; 0 otherwise | 19.79 |
 Middle school | 1 if the individual graduated from middle school; 0 otherwise | 30.00 |
 High school | 1 if the individual graduated from high school; 0 otherwise | 16.28 |
  > 3-years of college | 1 if the individual had above three-years of college; 0 otherwise | 12.26 |
Married | 1 if the individual is married; 0 otherwise | 78.71 |
Place of residence | 1 if urban resident; 0 for rural resident | 50.70 |
Medical insurance | ||
 GMI | 1 if enrolled in Government Medical Insurance; 0 otherwise | 2.37 |
 UEMI | 1 if enrolled in Urban Employee Medical Insurance; 0 otherwise | 14.59 |
 URMI | 1 if enrolled in Urban Resident Medical Insurance; 0 otherwise | 8.51 |
 NRCMI | 1 if enrolled in New Rural Cooperative Medical Insurance; 0 otherwise | 65.72 |
 Sup Insurance | 1 if enrolled in supplementary medical insurance; 0 otherwise | 0.45 |
 No Insurance | 1 if the individual does not have medical insurance; 0 otherwise | 8.36 |
Household income | ||
 Low income | 1 if household income is in the first quartile; 0 otherwise | 24.97 |
 Lower middle income | 1 if household income is in second quartile; 0 otherwise | 25.09 |
 Upper middle income | 1 if household income is in the third quartile; 0 otherwise | 25.05 |
 High income | 1 if household income is in the highest quartile; 0 otherwise | 24.89 |
Employment status | ||
 Agricultural worker | 1 if the individual is involved with agricultural jobs; 0 otherwise | 31.96 |
 Wage-earner | 1 if the individual reports working as wage earner; 0 otherwise | 34.20 |
 Self-employed | 1 if the individual reports being self-employed rather than working for an employer; 0 otherwise | 8.31 |
 Economically inactive | 1 if the individual reports being temporary worker, retirement, unemployment, or student; 0 otherwise | 25.53 |
Self-rated health status | ||
 Poor | 1 if the individual reports health status to be poor; 0 otherwise | 16.22 |
 Fair | 1 if the individual reports health status to be fair; 0 otherwise | 12.97 |
 Good | 1 if the individual reports health status to be excellent, very good, or good; 0 otherwise | 70.81 |
Chronic conditions | 1 if the individual has had doctor-diagnosed chronic diseases in the past six months; 0 otherwise | 35.03 |
Current smoking | 1 if the individual who currently smokes tobacco products; 0 otherwise | 29.05 |
Regular drinking | 1 if the individual drinks alcohol at least 3 times a week in past month; 0 otherwise | 15.05 |
Hospitalization | 1 if the individual reports hospitalization in the past 12 months; 0 otherwise | 13.01 |
Family size | Number of members with the household | 4.21a |
Internet | 1 if the individual reports Internet as a channel of information acquisition to be very important; 0 otherwise | 42.28 |
Television | 1 if the individual reports television as a channel of information acquisition to be very important; 0 otherwise | 40.78 |
Locations of respondents | ||
 Northeast region | 1 if the individual lives in the Northeast region; 0 otherwise | 13.25 |
 East region | 1 if the individual lives in the East region; 0 otherwise | 32.51 |
 Central region | 1 if the individual lives in the Central region; 0 otherwise | 23.67 |
 West region | 1 if the individual lives in the West region; 0 otherwise | 30.57 |
GDPb | The total health expenditures as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) | 7.40 |
Government spendingb | The government’s share of total health spending | 28.48 a |