Research On Employment Preference Of Postgraduates Majoring In Public Health And Preventive Medicine Based On Discrete Choice Experiment

Objective: The epidemic situation in COVID-19 has had a great impact on the public health system in China.Under this background,China has further strengthened the construction of the public health system and increased the enrollment scale of postgraduates majoring in public health and preventive medicine.However,there is still a serious imbalance between urban and rural distribution of public health human resources in China.Therefore,it is necessary to understand the employment preferences of postgraduates majoring in public health and preventive medicine and clarify the job attributes that affect their employment choices.On the one hand,it can provide theoretical guidance for colleges and universities to carry out targeted employment guidance;on the other hand,it can provide policy suggestions for the balanced distribution of public health human resources in urban and rural areas.Methods: This research is based on the discrete choice experiment,including four steps: determining the attribute and level,designing the questionnaire,collecting the research data,and inputting and analyzing the data.From December 2021 to January 2022,the postgraduate students majoring in public health and preventive medicine were selected from two medical colleges in Liaoning Province by convenient sampling method.Online survey was conducted through Wenjuanxing platform.The questionnaire includes personal basic information,family status,employment cognition and discrete choice experimental questionnaire.The establishment of the research database and data analysis are realized by Microsoft Excel 2016 and Stata15.0.Continuous variables are described by mean and standard deviation,while categorical variables are described by frequency and composition ratio.The discrete choice experimental data were analyzed by the mixed Logit model,and the goodness of fit of the model was tested by the Akachi Information Criterion(AIC)and the Bayesian Information Criterion(BIC).Subgroup analysis to explore the differences of employment preferences of subjects with different individual characteristics.Results: In this study,327 valid questionnaires were collected,and the effective recovery rate was 82%.The results of data analysis show that the six influencing factors(monthly income,bianzhi,workplace,career development prospect,working environment,and working value)are statistically significant for the employment choice of postgraduates majoring in public health and preventive medicine(p<0.05),and the respondents hold a positive attitude towards future employment.Among all the non-economic factors,"career development prospectrelatively good" has the greatest influence on the employment preference of postgraduates majoring in public health and preventive medicine(β=1.046,p<0.001),followed by "workplace-city"(β=1.019,p<0.001).The results of willingness to pay analysis show that compared with jobs with relatively poor career development prospects,the respondents are willing to give up 1246.3 yuan(95% CI: 988.0-1504.6)per month in exchange for a job with relatively good career development prospects.The results of sub-group analysis show that compared with other people,respondents from only-child families,families located in cities,and families with better economic conditions value the workplace most,and they are more willing to work in cities.Scenario analysis shows that,compared with the benchmark conditions(monthly income of 3,500 yuan,no bianzhi,working place in counties,relatively poor career development prospects,relatively poor working environment,and relatively low work value),the monthly income has increased to 5,000 yuan and 6,500 yuan,respectively,and the probability of respondents accepting work in counties has increased to 55.7% and 85.1%,respectively.For the comprehensive incentive measure "better environment +preparation",this probability is 75.2%.Conclusion: Both economic and non-economic factors will affect the employment preference of postgraduates majoring in public health and preventive medicine.Higher income,better career development prospects and jobs in cities are the most attractive to the respondents.As far as a single incentive factor is concerned,different combinations of incentive factors can achieve better attraction effect.The employment preference of postgraduates majoring in public health and preventive medicine varies from person to person,and each has its own characteristics.