Archive \ Volume.2 2011 Issue 3

Perceptions of Bruneian Clients about Online Medicine Information

Rosmah Hj Mohamad Shah, Win Winit-Watjana
Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to explore the perceptions of clients in Brunei Darussalam about online medicine information and to investigate determinants for the use of preferred medicine-related websites. Methods: Bruneian clients who met the eligibility criteria were purposively sampled and asked to fill out a structured questionnaire. An in-depth interview was also conducted to triangulate the survey data. Results: A total of 189 respondents completed the survey with the response rate of 75.6%. Half of the medicine information seekers (55.6%) were women and mostly between the age of 18 and 49 years. The majority of the respondents (90.5%) accessed the Internet from home, and 49.2% spent approximately 1 to 2 hours searching for the required medicine information. They mostly perceived searching online medicine information was speedy and convenient (84.7%). Information on side effects and indications of drugs (87.3% and 79.4%) was largely sought on the Internet. Most respondents (79.4%) were satisfied with the retrieved medicine information. Determinants for the use of medicinerelated websites were not detected. Conclusions: Clients conveniently obtained medicine information from the Internet aside from seeking advice from physicians and pharmacists. Their online medicine information needs and information reliability merit further studies.



Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.