| This thesis is an investigation of the information search activities of adult consumers of prescription drugs. It identified distinct groups of consumers based on different patterns of attitudes regarding information search and prescription drugs. Data were collected using a self-administered mail questionnaire in a survey of 456 prescription drug users, who indicated they had taken a prescription medication over the last 12 months. Eight underlying attitudinal dimensions were derived through Principal Axis Factoring of 32 attitudinal variables and were named: information involvement, information avoidance, self-assured knowledge, self-care orientation, manufacturer-oriented information, doctor-oriented information, pharmacist-oriented information, and patient decision making. Using cluster analysis, the prescription drug users were classified into different types according to the similarity of their scores on each of these eight attitudinal dimensions. The resulting typology formed three groups, each having a different orientation to information search and prescription drugs. These were labelled the System Skeptics, the Confident Decision Makers, and the Uninformed Followers. Significant differences were found across the cluster groupings on a number of behavioural, demographic and situational descriptors. |
