Family characteristics associated with rural households’ willingness to renew the family doctor contract services: a cross-sectional study in Shandong, China

BACKGROUND: In China, some previous studies have investigated the signing rate and willingness of residents to sign the family doctor contract services (FDCS). Few studies have explored residents’ willingness to renew the FDCS. This study is designed to understand the family characteristics difference towards rural households’ willingness of maintaining the FDCS. METHODS: A total of 823 rural households were included in the analysis. A descriptive analysis was conducted to describe the sample characteristics. The binary logistic regression model was used to explore the family characteristics that influence the renewal willingness for FDCS among rural households in Shandong province, China. RESULTS: Our study found that about 95.5% rural households had willingness to maintain the FDCS in Shandong, China. Those households with catastrophic health expenditures (CHE) (OR = 0.328, 95%CI = 0.153–0.703), with highest level of education at graduate or above (OR = 0.303, 95%CI = 0.123–0.747) were less willing to maintain the FDCS. Those whose households have more than half of the labor force (OR = 0.403, 95%CI = 0.173–0.941) and those households living in economically higher condition were less willing to maintain the FDCS. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates a significant association between family characteristics (CHE, highest education in households, proportion of the household labor force) and willingness to maintain FDCS among rural households in Shandong, China. Targeted policies should be made for rural residents of identified at-risk families. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-021-11048-5.