TY - JOUR
T1 - Latinos' sources of medication and medication information in the United States and their home countries
AU - Sleath, Betsy
AU - Blalock, Susan J.
AU - Bender, Deborah
AU - Murray, Michael
AU - Cerna, Ana
AU - Cohen, Mauricio G.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was funded by the UNC Program on Ethnicity, Culture, and Health Outcomes. The funding agency had no involvement with the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation of data, or writing of the report. None of the authors have actual or potential conflicts of interest to disclose related to this work.
PY - 2009/5
Y1 - 2009/5
N2 - Objective: The objectives of this study were: (1) to investigate what predisposing, enabling, and need factors are related to the purchase of medicines from "tiendas" and other countries and (2) to describe who Latinos typically receive medication information from in the United States and their home countries. In the United States, Latino grocery stores are referred to as "tiendas". Methods: Individuals were eligible to participate if they: were age 18 and over, self-identified as being Latino, and they or their children were currently taking prescription medications. Ninety-three individuals were interviewed in Spanish. Results: Forty-two percent of participants reported purchasing medicine in "tiendas" but only 5.4% reported that "tiendas" were their usual source of medicine. Ninety-one percent of individuals used U.S. pharmacies as their usual source of medicines. Individuals with health insurance were significantly less likely to have purchased medicine at a "tienda" (odds ratio = 0.16, 95% confidence interval = 0.03, 0.86). Thirty percent of individuals reported buying medicines in another country to bring back to the U.S. for their use. The most commonly purchased medicines included: antibiotics, vitamins, pain medicine, and herbal medicine. The Latinos in this sample preferred to receive verbal information about medications from their physicians (75.3%) followed by pharmacists (16.1%). Conclusion: Despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of Latino patients reported using pharmacies as their usual source of medication, many participants reported having purchased medications from "tiendas" and other countries. Practice implications: Providers need to make sure to ask patients from all ethnic backgrounds about all medicines they are taking, especially those purchased in "tiendas" or other countries.
AB - Objective: The objectives of this study were: (1) to investigate what predisposing, enabling, and need factors are related to the purchase of medicines from "tiendas" and other countries and (2) to describe who Latinos typically receive medication information from in the United States and their home countries. In the United States, Latino grocery stores are referred to as "tiendas". Methods: Individuals were eligible to participate if they: were age 18 and over, self-identified as being Latino, and they or their children were currently taking prescription medications. Ninety-three individuals were interviewed in Spanish. Results: Forty-two percent of participants reported purchasing medicine in "tiendas" but only 5.4% reported that "tiendas" were their usual source of medicine. Ninety-one percent of individuals used U.S. pharmacies as their usual source of medicines. Individuals with health insurance were significantly less likely to have purchased medicine at a "tienda" (odds ratio = 0.16, 95% confidence interval = 0.03, 0.86). Thirty percent of individuals reported buying medicines in another country to bring back to the U.S. for their use. The most commonly purchased medicines included: antibiotics, vitamins, pain medicine, and herbal medicine. The Latinos in this sample preferred to receive verbal information about medications from their physicians (75.3%) followed by pharmacists (16.1%). Conclusion: Despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of Latino patients reported using pharmacies as their usual source of medication, many participants reported having purchased medications from "tiendas" and other countries. Practice implications: Providers need to make sure to ask patients from all ethnic backgrounds about all medicines they are taking, especially those purchased in "tiendas" or other countries.
KW - Foreign medications
KW - Latinos
KW - Medication information
KW - Tiendas
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U2 - 10.1016/j.pec.2008.10.002
DO - 10.1016/j.pec.2008.10.002
M3 - Article
C2 - 19046845
AN - SCOPUS:63049118463
VL - 75
SP - 279
EP - 282
JO - Patient Education and Counseling
JF - Patient Education and Counseling
SN - 0738-3991
IS - 2
ER -