Sabates, Ricardo; Feinstein, Leon; (2004) Education, Training and the Take-up of Preventative Health Care [Wider Benefits of Learning Research Report No. 12]. Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning, Institute of Education, University of London: London.

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Abstract

This paper reports fi ndings from research using the British Household Panel Survey on the relationship between education and the take-up of screening for cervical cancer, as an example of preventative healthcare activity. Theoretically, education can enhance the demand for preventative health services by raising awareness of the importance of undertaking regular health checkups and hence the willingness to do so. Education may also improve the ways in which individuals understand information regarding periodical tests, communication with the health practitioner, and the interpretation of results. Furthermore education enhances the inclusion of individuals in society, improves self-efficacy and confidence. All these factors increase service uptake. Using a model for the effects of prior learning on the uptake of screening, we show that level 2 or above education increases the probability that women have more than two tests in 11 years by between 5.7 and 5.9 percentage points. This result is robust to the inclusion of controls such as income and socio-economic status, demographic information and personal life circumstances. Using discrete panel data techniques, we show that adult learning is statistically associated with an increase in the uptake of screening. The marginal effect indicates that participation in adult learning is associated with an increase in the probability of having a smear test of 2.3 percentage points. This estimate is strongly robust to time-invariant selectivity bias in education. The fi ndings presented in this paper enrich existing evidence on the socio-economic determinants of screening for cervical cancer and enable policy makers to better understand barriers to service uptake.

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