SERVICE ATTRIBUTES AND THE CHOICE FOR STD HEALTH-SERVICES IN PERSONS SEEKING A MEDICAL-EXAMINATION FOR AN STD

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.