A Perceived Value Model for Explaining Patients' Intentions to Continue Use of Pharmaceutical Care Services

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a perceived value model for explaining patients' willingness to continue use of pharmaceutical care services. A written questionnaire was administered to 154 patients in the waiting room of a pharmacist-run anticoagulation clinic in a Veterans Administration Medical Center. A path-analysis of the questionnaire data revealed that a higher perceived threat of warfarin-related problems (under the condition of not attending the clinic regularly) was associated with higher perceived benefits from clinic attendance. The higher perceived benefits were associated with lower perceived nonmonetary costs and higher perceived value of the pharmacist's services. Lower nonmonetary costs were also associated with higher perceived value. Higher perceived value was strongly associated with the patients' willingness to continue use of the pharmacist-run clinic. The model explained 69% of the variance inpatients' willingness to continue use of the pharmaceutical care service and 73% of the variance in perceived value. Goodness-of-fit indices suggested that the final model structure was a good representation of the relationship of the model variables. The perceived value model is a useful framework for explaining how patients' perceptions of pharmaceutical care services influence their continued use of the services. © 2001, Informa UK Ltd All rights reserved: reproduction in whole or part not permitted. All rights reserved.

Duke Scholars

Author Jane Frances Pendergast Biostatistics & Bioinformatics, Division of Biostatistics