对草药产品消费者支出的影响。

Alkhateeb Fadi M, Doucette William R, Ganther-Urmie Julie M

Division of Clinical and Administrative Pharmacy, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52246, USA.

Res Social Adm Pharm. 2006 Jun;2(2):254-65. doi: 10.1016/j.sapharm.2006.03.001.

BACKGROUND

Despite the rapid growth in consumer spending on herbal products, we know little about factors that influence such spending.

OBJECTIVE

To use a model of adoption to investigate consumers' spending on herbal products.

METHODS

The study used a mail survey of a stratified random sample of 1,300 consumers. The population consisted of consumers aged 18 years and older residing in the United States. The sampling frame was a mailing list purchased from KM Lists. The independent variables were consumer characteristics, social systems, communication channels, and herbal characteristics. The amount of spending on herbs was the dependent measure, with responses divided into monthly spending of 10 dollars or less and more than 10 dollars . Binary logistic regression was performed to investigate the association between adoption model variables and spending on herbs.

RESULTS

Of the 1,300 mailed surveys, there were 77 undeliverable surveys and 456 usable returned surveys, yielding a usable response rate of 37.3%. A total of 181 (39.7%) respondents reported using herbal products. The logistic regression was performed using the 168 herbal users who reported that they spent money in the past month on herbal products. The overall regression model was significant (P<.05, Nagelkerke R(2)=0.499). The significant influences on spending on herbals were age, over-the-counter (OTC) drug use, and use of an herb professional as an information source about herbs. Older people reported spending more on herbal products than younger people. OTC drug use was positively related to spending on herbals and appears to complement herbal usage. Finally, consumers who obtain information about herbals from an herb professional tend to spend more on herbals.

CONCLUSION

An adoption model may be useful in explaining consumers' spending on herbal products.

背景

尽管消费者在草药产品上的支出迅速增长，但我们对影响此类支出的因素知之甚少。

目的

使用一种采用模型来调查消费者在草药产品上的支出情况。

方法

该研究对1300名消费者进行了分层随机抽样的邮件调查。总体为居住在美国的18岁及以上的消费者。抽样框架是从KM列表购买的邮件列表。自变量为消费者特征、社会系统、沟通渠道和草药特征。草药支出金额为因变量指标，回答分为每月支出10美元及以下和超过10美元。进行二元逻辑回归以研究采用模型变量与草药支出之间的关联。

结果

在1300份邮寄的调查问卷中，有77份无法投递，456份问卷有效回收，有效回复率为37.3%。共有181名（39.7%）受访者报告使用草药产品。逻辑回归是对168名报告在过去一个月在草药产品上花钱的草药使用者进行的。总体回归模型具有显著性（P<0.05，Nagelkerke R² = 0.499）。对草药支出有显著影响的因素是年龄、非处方药使用以及将草药专业人士作为草药信息来源。老年人报告在草药产品上的支出比年轻人多。非处方药使用与草药支出呈正相关，似乎与草药使用起到互补作用。最后，从草药专业人士那里获取草药信息的消费者往往在草药上花费更多。