Likelihood of Chiikiwaku Medical Student Loan Repayment and Its Associated Factors

Abstract

　This study used a self-administered questionnaire to assess the likelihood of chiikiwaku medical student loan repayment and its associated factors. If chiikiwaku repayment is high, then it can have a negative effect on the chiikiwaku program, which was established to distribute doctors to outlying areas. A total of 112 students (37.8%) reported that the likelihood of repayment was "high" or "somewhat high." The factors statistically associated with repayment likelihood were female gender (odds ratio (OR) 3.2, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.5-6.8), applying forchiikiwaku mainly due to the higher medical school acceptance rate (OR 2.9, 95%CI 1.2-6.8), private medical school (OR 10.3, 95%CI 2.6-40.3), and stress related to obligation or repayment (OR 2.4, 95%CI 1.3-4.3). The results suggest that to decrease the rate of loan repayment it is important to improve the process of selecting chiikiwaku students and to modify the chiikiwaku system to support students experiencing stress.