The Impact of Consequences Awareness of Public Environment on Medicine Return Behavior: A Moderated Chain Mediation Model

Abstract

With global aging trends and prosperity in the medicine market, the number of unused or expired household unused or expired medicines is increasing. Medicines which are discarded improperly result in serious pollution. From the perspective of behavioral science, the main contribution of this paper is the construction of a chain mediation model to analyze the influence mechanism between consequences awareness of the public environment and proper return behavior of unused or expired medicines. The model explores the moderating effect of personal health awareness with through observation of to the mediating effect of personal norms and return intention. Using a sample size of 366 residents from China, the proposed hypotheses are empirically tested. The results show: firstly, the direct effect of residents’ consequences awareness of public environmental awareness on the proper medicine return behavior is not significant; secondly, return intention plays a mediating role in the positive effect of consequences awareness of the public environment on proper return behavior; thirdly, personal norms and return intention play a chain mediating role in the positive impact of consequences awareness of the public environment on proper return behavior; and lastly, personal health awareness moderates the chain mediation path by strengthening the positive effect of return intention on proper return behavior.

Practice and awareness about unused and expired drug disposal among village people and city people in Bangladesh

“…This is so because chemists spend a lot of time during their school studying safe drug usage and disposal techniques. Pharmacists may save lives in an exponential way by raising awareness of the negative impact that incorrect drug disposal has on the environment, the ecology, and everyone's health [20]. Disposal of drugs raises questions about how to best safeguard both human and ecological health [21].…”

Modeling Predictors of Medication Waste Reduction Intention in Algeria: Extending the Theory of Planned Behavior

“…In line with this, and in order to mitigate the waste severity, many countries have established medication waste take-back systems [ 6 , 18 , 27 ] so that consumers of medications can cooperate with pharmacists to play important roles. However, some of these systems failed to achieve the desired goals [ 12 ] for several reasons, including a lack of awareness among society’s members [ 15 , 18 , 32 ]. On this basis, research in this field has attracted the attention of researchers, decision-makers, and international organizations in both developed and developing countries [ 6 ].…”

“…[ 30 , 31 ]), especially from the consumers’ perspective (e.g., refs. [ 32 , 34 , 38 , 39 ]). Accordingly, there is a research gap in understanding what drives medication consumers to reduce medication waste.…”

Editorial Statement and Research Ideas on Using Behavioral Models in Environmental Research and Public Health with Applications

“…al. [ 4 ], Du et al [ 5 ], Lv et al [ 6 ], Pentrakan et al [ 7 ], Rjoub et al [ 8 ], Wang et al [ 9 ], Mumtaz et al [ 10 ], Wu et al [ 11 ], and Yao et al [ 12 ]. Among them, Attiq et al [ 3 ] used the partial least squares structural (PLS) model to examine the impacts of financial, cognitive, and emotional concerns of consumers on recycling behavior, reuse, and food waste reduction and among restaurant patrons.…”

“…On the other hand, to examine the relationship between proper return behavior of unused or expired medicines and consequence awareness in the public environment, Lv et al [ 6 ] introduced a chain mediation model that can examine the influence mechanism study of the relationship. The model can also be used to study the moderating effects of personal norms, personal health awareness, and return intention.…”