Pem. Leenaars et al., SERVICE ATTRIBUTES AND THE CHOICE FOR STD HEALTH-SERVICES IN PERSONS SEEKING A MEDICAL-EXAMINATION FOR AN STD, Social science & medicine, 38(2), 1994, pp. 363-371
This article examines choice for STD health services among patients su
specting a STD. A total of 825 patients who sought medical treatment a
t an STD clinic, a Family Planning Clinic or a General Practitioner pa
rticipated in this study. Special STD clinics are not well known among
patients visiting their GP or a Family Planning Clinic. Both perceive
d unprofessionality and embarrassment were reasons for not asking a GP
for medical treatment and for not being loyal to their GP after a fir
st visit. Most respondents evaluate the 16 service attributes as impor
tant and/or annoying. Differences in beliefs and evaluations about the
separate service attributes existed between the three choice behavior
groups. The results of this study may be useful in making persuasive
arguments for the existence of special STD clinics, especially when co
mpeting for limited resources. However, attitudes to service attribute
s and social norms explained only 24% of the variance in scores betwee
n the three choice behavior groups. This means that other factors (hav
e to) play a role in actual choice behavior. Future research should ta
ke into account factors, such as: personality traits, perceived behavi
oral control and confidentiality.