Essential drugs use behavior in rural residents:an analysis based on theory of planned behavior

Objective To study essential drug use behavior and its impact factors in rural residents and to provide suggestions for intervention on rational drug use in the residens.Methods Using multi-stage stratified random sampling,2 867 rural residents aged ≥15 years in 1 518 households were selected from five cities of Shandong province and investigated with a questionnaire survey.The data collected were analyzed statistically based on core framework of the theory of planned behavior(TPB).Results The most of the residents(95.9%) were satisfied to the essential drug policy,but there were parts of the residents reporting unsatisfied expectation to the quality(58.9%),price(58.8%),convenience of purchasement(48.4%),curative effect(46.8%),and types(15.4%) of the essential drugs.The proportion of the residents accepting essential drugs recommended by the doctors was 84.8% and that of taking the essential drugs exactly as the doctors' prescriptions was 92.3%.But most of the residents(94.3%) were lack of knowledge about medication and some of the residents reported the preference for new drug(12.4%),expensive drug(15.0%),imported drugs(24.8%),multi-drug medication(37.7%),and intravenous infusion(10.9%).Among the residents,46.3% took antibiotics when having a common cold and 39.3% kept antibiotics at home for self-medication.Conclusion The key factors affecting rural resident's rational use of essential drugs include perceived benefit of essential drugs policy,prescription behavior of the doctors,and medication knowledge and habit of the residents.