What Makes Indonesians Satisfied With Their Health? A Multilevel Analysis

Abstract

National governments are increasingly exploring how the routine collection of subjective well-being data can be a valuable tool for improving public policy. In particular, health satisfaction is an indicator of subjective well-being which can be helpful in evaluating and improving of health policy. This study aimed to examine patterns and determinants of health satisfaction across provinces, considering how its measurement can help governments to deliver more effective health policy. We used secondary data using Happiness Level Assessment Survey conducted by the Central Statistics Agency of Indonesia involved respondents aged 18 to 98 with response rate in 2014 was 94.2%, while in 2017 was 96.4%. To this end, an analysis was performed on 45,881 responses to the 2014 and 2017 Happiness Level Assessment Survey performed by the Central Agency of Statistics. The results showed that there was a significant difference in health satisfaction in 2017 compared with 2014, with health satisfaction in 2017 is higher than that in 2014. Overall, 12 out of 34 provinces experienced a substantial rise in health satisfaction. Subsequently, multi-level modeling was used to explore the extent to which health satisfaction was associated with different individual-level and provincial-level explanatory variables. Here, the analyses showed that health satisfaction among Indonesians is associated with whether individuals live in urban or rural areas, demographic factors, health-related factors, social capital, and leisure time. Overall, the study helps to illuminate the status of health satisfaction across Indonesia, leading to numerous suggestions for improving health policy.