Relationships between physicians’ characteristics and practice-setting factors and their attitude towards drug promotion

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to investigate relationship between attitude and belief of physicians towards drug promotion and their characteristics and practice-setting factors in Sana'a, Yemen. Methods A survey method approach was used in this study. To test the relationship between attitude and belief of physicians towards drug promotion and their characteristics and practice-setting factors in Sana'a, Yemen, data were analysed using descriptive and inferential analysis. The hypotheses were tested using independent t-test and one-way ANOVA.Results Findings revealed that only possession of private clinic makes significant difference (P-value 0.003) among physician in attitude towards pharmaceutical companies, and only occupational commitment makes significant difference (P-value 0.020) in attitude towards ethical pharmaceutical promotion, while only gender and possession of private clinic make significant difference (P-value 0.001 and 0.009 respectively) in physicians' belief in the appropriateness of accepting high-value promotions. ANOVA showed significant difference in physicians' attitude towards pharmaceutical companies (P-value 0.003) and medical representatives (MRs; P-value 0-048) only when the number of MRs seen per week is more than six. Conclusion Only gender, possession or nonpossession of private clinic, occupational commitment and number of MRs the physician see per week can be considered as possible predictors of the relationship between physicians' belief and attitude towards drug promotional activities.

Do Demographic Factors Influence Physicians' Perceptions of the Effectiveness of Pharmaceutical Marketing Strategies?

“…This was accomplished by investigating the relationships between physicians' perceptions of the effectiveness of marketing strategies and demographic and occupational characteristics. Although similar studies have been conducted in other countries, with the exception of two studies conducted in Japan [50] and Yemen [7], those studies did not use factor analysis to validate measurements of perception towards drug promotion strategies.…”

“…However, other demographic characteristics of doctors such as gender, age, experience and speciality did not make any significant difference in the perceptions of doctors [21]. The existing literature has highlighted the need to understand the phenomenon of how the influence of marketing strategies varies from physician to physician [7]. Thus, it would be of great importance for pharmaceutical marketing managers to understand the role of demographic characteristics of physicians and develop customized marketing strategies for successfully influencing prescribing decisions in favour of their drugs.…”

“…Although there is rich literature which has sought to measure the marketing relationship between physicians and the pharmaceutical industry, the perspective of physicians regarding the effectiveness of marketing strategies has been rarely studied [7]. According to previous research studies, the nexus between pharmaceutical companies and physicians has not been adequately studied in third-world nations [8], [9].…”