ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE SERVICES: THE STUDY OF CHANGING NORMS FOR NEW HEALTHCARE OPTIONS FROM PAST TO PRESENT FOCUSING ON THAI CITIZENS IN CHANTHABURI PROVINCE
Keywords:
Alternative Medicine Services, Service Quality, HealthcareAbstract
This research aims to study the decisions of Chanthaburi citizens in opting for alternative medicine services. A questionnaire is used as a data collection tool with 400 samples from the overall population that undertook alternative medicine services in Chanthaburi. The researchers have applied descriptive statistics for population data while using inferential statistic for analysing the data includes independent sample t-test, One-way ANOVA and multiple regression analysis. The research has found that variables such as gender, occupation, and the exercise of rights to receive services at the hospital (the first location to use the rights) have differently affected the decision to use alternative medicine services. Moreover, perceived service quality in terms of tangibility of the services, reliability, responsiveness toward patients, confidence in the service standard and care & empathy for the patients has an effect on factors influencing the decisions to use alternative medicine services at the significant level as of 0.05. As a result, it is recommended that the practice units of alternative medicine services should place emphasis on building greater trust with patients to answer to the needs of this new generation’s healthcare trend that aims for a happy and healthy life through modern alternative medicine services.
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