Self-medication in Vietnam: Why do consumers purchase medicines without prescriptions?

Figures & data

Table 1. Demographic information

		Count	Column N %
Age	From 18 to 25	174	40.9%
	From 26 to 45	161	37.8%
	Above 45	91	21.4%
	Total	426	100.0%
Gender	Male	195	45.8%
	Female	231	54.2%
	Total	426	100.0%
Income	Below 5 million VND	55	12.9%
	From 5 to 10 million VND	99	23.2%
	From 11 to 15 million VND	139	32.6%
	Above 15 million VND	133	31.2%
	Total	426	100.0%
Personality	Rational	195	45.8%
	Emotional	231	54.2%
	Total	426	100.0%
Educational level	Under college	102	23.9%
	College and University	227	53.3%
	Postgraduate	97	22.8%
	Total	426	100.0%

Table 2. Reliability test

Items/Scales	Scale Mean if Item Deleted	Scale Variance if Item Deleted	Corrected Item-Total Correlation	Cronbach’s Alpha if Item Deleted
Reliability test of “PSU” with α = 0.872
PSU1	7.7911	1.766	.723	.775
PSU2	7.8028	1.839	.715	.783
PSU3	7.8146	1.846	.700	.797
Reliability test of “PES” with α = 0.873
PES1	11.7418	3.580	.631	.873
PES2	11.9061	2.895	.792	.810
PES3	11.8756	3.074	.764	.822
PES4	11.8709	3.115	.730	.836
Reliability test of “PBE” with α = 0.864
PBE1	14.7019	4.789	.682	.836
PBE2	14.8286	4.848	.642	.845
PBE3	14.9507	4.442	.677	.838
PBE4	14.9178	4.358	.756	.816
PBE5	14.8075	4.730	.666	.839
Reliability test of “PBA” with α = 0.877
PBA1	14.6831	5.459	.718	.850
PBA2	14.9155	4.600	.764	.840
PBA3	14.8286	4.985	.781	.833
PBA4	14.6714	5.746	.685	.859
PBA5	14.8920	5.320	.631	.870
Reliability test of “PSE” with α = 0.890
PSE1	14.7465	7.352	.781	.857
PSE2	14.7019	7.678	.661	.882
PSE3	14.7160	7.973	.684	.879
PSE4	14.9155	6.553	.832	.842
PSE5	14.9765	6.574	.741	.869
Reliability test of “CUE” with α = 0.819
CUE1	11.6667	2.670	.577	.800
CUE2	11.7089	2.494	.625	.779
CUE3	11.7629	2.539	.626	.778
CUE4	11.7629	2.318	.736	.725
Reliability test of “IBE” with α = 0.792
IBE1	15.8826	3.614	.607	.740
IBE2	15.9061	4.076	.459	.788
IBE3	15.9108	3.705	.633	.732
IBE4	15.9742	4.025	.511	.771
IBE5	15.9601	3.888	.661	.727

Table 3. Results of EFA for independent variables

Factors	Component
	1	2	3	4	5
PES2	.867
PES3	.835
PSU1	.828
PES4	.823
PSU2	.778
PSU3	.769
PES1	.667
PSE4		.888
PSE1		.868
PSE5		.834
PSE3		.803
PSE2		.788
PBA3			.868
PBA2			.855
PBA1			.827
PBA4			.807
PBA5			.748
PBE4				.838
PBE1				.782
PBE3				.778
PBE2				.776
PBE5				.772
CUE4					.856
CUE3					.774
CUE2					.756
CUE1					.735
Initial Eigenvalues	4.699	4.189	3.527	3.243	1.664
Rotation sums of squared loadings	17.266	30.844	44.042	56.617	66.623
KMO					0.773
Sig of Bartlett’s test					0.000

Table 4. Results of EFA for the dependent variable

	Component
	1
IBE5	.813
IBE3	.790
IBE1	.772
IBE4	.694
IBE2	.630
Initial Eigenvalues	2.761
Rotation sums of squared loadings	55.212
KMO	0.817
Sig of Bartlett’s test	0.000

Table 5. Also shows that all factor loadings are higher than 0.5, which means the observed variables achieve convergence value. Also, no observed variables with factor loading values load more than two factors, so the observed variables reach differentiated values. After analyzing EFA, we find that the scales reach convergent and discriminant values. Therefore, they can be used for further research, as shown below

Table V: Correlations
		PTH	PBE	PBA	PSE	CUE	IBE
PTH	Pearson Correlation	1	−.025	−.108*	.062	.043	.305**
	Sig. (2-tailed)		.611	.026	.204	.373	.000
	N	426	426	426	426	426	426
PBE	Pearson Correlation	−.025	1	−.032	.022	.415**	.417**
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.611		.516	.654	.000	.000
	N	426	426	426	426	426	426
PBA	Pearson Correlation	−.108*	−.032	1	.006	−.025	.339**
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.026	.516		.897	.600	.000
	N	426	426	426	426	426	426
PSE	Pearson Correlation	.062	.022	.006	1	−.035	.392**
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.204	.654	.897		.477	.000
	N	426	426	426	426	426	426
CUE	Pearson Correlation	.043	.415**	−.025	−.035	1	.450**
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.373	.000	.600	.477		.000
	N	426	426	426	426	426	426
IBE	Pearson Correlation	.305**	.417**	.339**	.392**	.450**	1
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.000	.000	.000	.000	.000
	N	426	426	426	426	426	426

Table 6. Regression analysis results

Model		Unstandardized Coefficients		Standardized Coefficients	t	Sig.	Collinearity Statistics
		B	Std. Error	Beta			Tolerance	VIF
1	(Constant)	−1.503	.200		−7.497	.000
	PTH	.268	.025	.316	10.808	.000	.980	1.020
	PBE	.260	.029	.288	9.016	.000	.824	1.214
	PBA	.330	.025	.388	13.308	.000	.987	1.013
	PSE	.271	.021	.375	12.902	.000	.993	1.007
	CUE	.318	.030	.340	10.642	.000	.823	1.215
Adjusted R^2: 0.643
Durbin–Watson: 1.601
ANOVA^a (sig.): 0.000
Dependent Variable: IBE

Table 7. The results of the T-test and one–way ANOVA

Modifying factors		Mean	Test value	Sig.
Age	Under 18	3,9477	F = 0.637	0.592
	From 18 to 25	4,0312
	From 26 to 45	3,9578
	Above 45	3,9890
Income	Below 5 million VND	4.1527	F = 13.959	0.000
	From 5 to 10 million VND	4.1111
	From 11 to 15 million VND	4.0144
	15 million VND	3.7805
Educational level	Under college	4.1765	F = 92.535	0.000
	College and University	4.1004
	Postgraduate	3.4990
Personality	Rational	3.6400	t = −17.908	0.000
	Emotional	4.2701
Gender	Male	4.1887	t = 8.923	0.000
	Female	3.8069

Table

QUESTIONAIRE
(PSU) Perceived Susceptibility
PSU1: I buy medicines myself because my relatives usually choose this way.
PSU2: I know that trying to buy medicines without visiting the doctor can lead to taking the wrong prescription.
PSU3: I buy medicine at the pharmacy instead of going to the doctor because I am afraid of spreading other diseases at the hospital.
(PES) Perceived Severity
PES1: I buy medicines myself instead of visiting the doctor because my symptoms are mild.
PES2: I suppose my symptoms are not too severe to go to the hospital.
PES3: I am aware that buying medicines without meeting the doctor at the hospital can cause resistance or side effects.
PES4: I am aware that taking drugs of unknown dosage can lead to side effects.
(PBE) Perceived benefits
PBE1: I buy medicines myself to reduce the cost of treatment.
PBE2: Distance when buying medicines is the priority factor when I choose for treatment.
PBE3: I want to choose medical stores instead of going to hospital because of the procedural burden at the hospital.
PBE4: I suppose that the number of medicines I buy by myself will be less than use the prescription given by the doctor.
PBE5: I buy medicines at drugstores because the assistants there understand my medication-taking habits.
(PBA) Perceived barriers
PBA1: It is more expensive of buying medicine at the hospital than at the medical stores.
PBA2: I do the self-meditation instead of visiting doctor because of saving time or finding hard to schedule my timetable to visit hospital.
PBA3: I buy medicines myself instead of visiting the doctor because the hospitals/clinics are located so far from place where I live.
PBA4: I buy the medicines myself instead of visiting doctor because I am afraid to follow many hospital procedures.
PBA5: My concern about the attitude of doctors or staffs, it pretends me to go to the hospital.
(PSE) Perceived self-efficacy
PSE1: I think that I only need to go to the hospital when I get serious symptoms.
PSE2: I buy the medicines myself instead of visiting the doctor because I have used this medicine many times before.
PSE3: I buy medicines myself for the prompt treatment of acute pains.
PSE4: I buy the type of medicine that my friends or relatives recommend its efficacy.
PSE5: I buy medicine based on seeking suggestion from the internet.
(CUE) Cues to action
CUE1: I obtain medicine when I feel that there are some problems with my health.
CUE2: Changing the weather leads my health getting sick.
CUE3: I obtain medicine when a new pandemic appears.
CUE4: I buy medicine because there are advertisements say it is good for my health.
(IBE) Individual behaviors
IBE1: I do the self-meditation because this behavior is very popular to my friends and relatives.
IBE2: I will seek the information of medicines before buying them myself.
IBE3: I normally choose buying medicine myself because it allows me to save the cost.
IBE4: I will choose to buy medicine at pharmacies near my area.
IBE5: I feel comfortable when buying medicines myself.

Note: All constructs are measured on a five-point Likert scale, which ranges from 1: strongly disagree with the statements to 5: strongly agree with the statements.