Cover Image

Preferred method of purchasing supplements among government servants in Putrajaya

Despite the risk of buying dangerous unregistered or counterfeit health supplement products online, the purchases still persist. This study aimed to identify the current preferred purchasing method and factors that influenced the preference. A cross-sectional study using simple random sampling was c...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Raub, Nurul Syakilah Embok, Abdul Majid, Hazreen
Format: Article
Published: Malaysian Public Health Physicians Association 2021
Subjects:
RM Therapeutics. Pharmacology
RS Pharmacy and materia medica
Online Access:http://eprints.um.edu.my/35881/
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
id my.um.eprints.35881
record_format eprints
spelling my.um.eprints.358812023-11-27T07:34:05Z http://eprints.um.edu.my/35881/ Preferred method of purchasing supplements among government servants in Putrajaya Raub, Nurul Syakilah Embok Abdul Majid, Hazreen RM Therapeutics. Pharmacology RS Pharmacy and materia medica Despite the risk of buying dangerous unregistered or counterfeit health supplement products online, the purchases still persist. This study aimed to identify the current preferred purchasing method and factors that influenced the preference. A cross-sectional study using simple random sampling was conducted among supplement purchasers within government servants in Putrajaya, Malaysia. Data were collected using an online self-reported questionnaire from 1st February to 1st August 2020. The traditional method became the preferred way of purchasing supplements (Traditional=68 vs Online=32). However, younger and middle group (OR = 2.13, 95 CI = 1.41–3.21 and OR = 2.16, 95 CI = 1.22–3.82, respectively), females (OR = 1.38, 95 CI = 1.05–1.80) and, non-Malays (Indian and others, OR = 0.33, 95 CI = 0.11–0.95 and OR = 0.38, 95 CI = 0.17–0.88, respectively) significantly preferred online purchases. Product quality was the most important factor for both purchasing methods (P<0.001). Meanwhile, the main motivating factor for choosing the traditional method was ‘ease of getting the product advise and relevant information’ (n=595, 72.4), in online, it was ‘being able to read the product reviews through the internet (IT)’ (n=205, 52.8). The majority of respondents checked for many similar supplement products before purchase (50.9 Traditional and 38.4 Online). Surprisingly, no significant differences were found in knowledge for identifying registered products between both methods (p=0.330). The traditional method was still preferred and indicates that, the health awareness of the respondents is encouraging. However, this result cannot be generalized to the population. Hence, efforts to enhance public knowledge, awareness, and promoting the safety and efficacious issues on registered supplement products must be continued. © 2021 Malaysian Public Health Physicians Association 2021 Article PeerReviewed Raub, Nurul Syakilah Embok and Abdul Majid, Hazreen (2021) Preferred method of purchasing supplements among government servants in Putrajaya. Malaysian Journal of Public Health Medicine, 21 (2). pp. 401-408. ISSN 16750306, DOI https://doi.org/10.37268/mjphm/vol.21/no.2/art.1079 <https://doi.org/10.37268/mjphm/vol.21/no.2/art.1079>. 10.37268/mjphm/vol.21/no.2/art.1079
institution Universiti Malaya
building UM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Malaya
content_source UM Research Repository
url_provider http://eprints.um.edu.my/
topic RM Therapeutics. Pharmacology
RS Pharmacy and materia medica
spellingShingle RM Therapeutics. Pharmacology
RS Pharmacy and materia medica
Raub, Nurul Syakilah Embok
Abdul Majid, Hazreen
Preferred method of purchasing supplements among government servants in Putrajaya
description Despite the risk of buying dangerous unregistered or counterfeit health supplement products online, the purchases still persist. This study aimed to identify the current preferred purchasing method and factors that influenced the preference. A cross-sectional study using simple random sampling was conducted among supplement purchasers within government servants in Putrajaya, Malaysia. Data were collected using an online self-reported questionnaire from 1st February to 1st August 2020. The traditional method became the preferred way of purchasing supplements (Traditional=68 vs Online=32). However, younger and middle group (OR = 2.13, 95 CI = 1.41–3.21 and OR = 2.16, 95 CI = 1.22–3.82, respectively), females (OR = 1.38, 95 CI = 1.05–1.80) and, non-Malays (Indian and others, OR = 0.33, 95 CI = 0.11–0.95 and OR = 0.38, 95 CI = 0.17–0.88, respectively) significantly preferred online purchases. Product quality was the most important factor for both purchasing methods (P<0.001). Meanwhile, the main motivating factor for choosing the traditional method was ‘ease of getting the product advise and relevant information’ (n=595, 72.4), in online, it was ‘being able to read the product reviews through the internet (IT)’ (n=205, 52.8). The majority of respondents checked for many similar supplement products before purchase (50.9 Traditional and 38.4 Online). Surprisingly, no significant differences were found in knowledge for identifying registered products between both methods (p=0.330). The traditional method was still preferred and indicates that, the health awareness of the respondents is encouraging. However, this result cannot be generalized to the population. Hence, efforts to enhance public knowledge, awareness, and promoting the safety and efficacious issues on registered supplement products must be continued. © 2021
format Article
author Raub, Nurul Syakilah Embok
Abdul Majid, Hazreen
author_facet Raub, Nurul Syakilah Embok
Abdul Majid, Hazreen
author_sort Raub, Nurul Syakilah Embok
title Preferred method of purchasing supplements among government servants in Putrajaya
title_short Preferred method of purchasing supplements among government servants in Putrajaya
title_full Preferred method of purchasing supplements among government servants in Putrajaya
title_fullStr Preferred method of purchasing supplements among government servants in Putrajaya
title_full_unstemmed Preferred method of purchasing supplements among government servants in Putrajaya
title_sort preferred method of purchasing supplements among government servants in putrajaya
publisher Malaysian Public Health Physicians Association
publishDate 2021
url http://eprints.um.edu.my/35881/
_version_ 1783876643460218880
score 13.211869

Similar Items