Objective To survey the relations between the rural residents’ occupational satisfaction, the health policies and demographic factors in Henan province and then to confirm the health policy order and its key target populations. Methods The questionnaires were distributed to 1 117 rural residents in 156 villages among 44 townships in 19 counties (cities, districts). The frequency analysis, multivariate linear regression analysis and multiple comparisons were conducted. Results The average value of rural residents’ occupational satisfaction scored 68.23, among which the complete dissatisfaction scored 0 accounting for 1.9%, the complete satisfaction scored 100 accounting for 9.0%, the one scoring no more than 50 accounted for 20.9%, and the one scoreing equal 80 or more than 80 accounted for 37.5%. By regarding the occupational satisfaction as the dependent variable, the independent variables stayed in the model were as follows in order according to their influence from heavy to little on the dependent variable: new rural cooperative medical system (NRCMS), occupation, village general practitioner’s work, family formation, age, disease prevention and control efforts. The occupational satisfaction was much higher when there were the following conditions: the higher satisfaction with the NRCMS, the more financial burden relieved by the NRCMS, and the higher satisfaction with village general practitioners’ work. The occupational satisfaction was the highest when villagers lived with their spouses, while it was the lowest when villagers lived with their spouses and children, as well as they lived with their parents, spouses and children. The peasants’ occupational satisfaction was the lowest. The occupational satisfaction had significantly negative correlation with cultural level, and had positive correlation with age. Conclusion The occupational satisfaction is an important indicator for assessing the level of social harmony, and is the basis for policy decision-making, implementation, and evaluation. The overall occupational satisfaction of the rural residents in Henan is lower, so the social harmoniy and stability should be alerted. The priority order of the existing rural health policy should be the NRCMS policy, village general practitioner work policy, and village disease prevention and control policy. When we are formulating and implementing the rural health policy, the key target populations should be considered among the people whose families comprise two or three generations, whose occupations are farmers, whose cultural level is lower, and whose ages are younger.
Objective To investigate the health status of residents in rural areas of China as well as their needs for health service, and to explore the effective way to improve the health status of rural residents so as to provide a basis for the training of community healthcare professionals. Methods Using the method of stratified cluster random sampling, we investigated 4190 rural residents from 1200 families, which were sampled from 13 provinces of China according to the geographical distribution. Results The 2-week prevalence rate was 27.9%. 32.7% of the patients saw a doctor, and 20.5% did not take any measures. Among those who did not take any measures, 78.4% thought their illness was mild and did not need any treatment; and the second reason for no treatment was lack of money (accounting for 36.5%). The prevalence rate of chronic diseases during the past half year was 24.9%, among which lumbar and leg pain was the most prevalent (accounting for 7.8%), followed by hypertension (accounting for 5.5%). The rates of visiting a doctor were 43.9% and 61.5% in township level and village level health institutions, respectively, during the past one year. 70.0% of the patients looked for treatment, 8.4% chose to ignore, and 20.8% took medicine by themselves. Among those who visited a doctor, 61.0% preferred hospitals near their houses, and 34.0% preferred those with lower expenses. More than half of the residents (accounting for 57.3%) did not have any physical examination during the past 3 years, and 28.3% did have a check-up but not regularly. Among the rural residents investigated, 64.2% obtained health care knowledge from television, newspapers, books and radio broadcasting, and 67.3% were desirous of regular physical examination. 56.3% and 33.1% of the rural residents considered the skill of the healthcare professionals in town-level institutions to be acceptable and satisfactory, respectively; and 61.7% and 24.6% evaluated the skill of those in village-level institutions to be acceptable and satisfactory, respectively. Conclusion The health status of rural residents is not optimistic, and their health behaviors need to be correctly guided, and the medical facilities and healthcare service quality of primary healthcare institutions should be improved. It is suggested that the government and medical colleges take the responsibility to train healthcare professionals for the primary health care in rural areas.