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TREATMENT PATTERN OF COMMON AILMENTS BY PARENTS IN THEIR CHILDREN

Anirudh.S.PanickerRoll No A072.Academic Year 2011-16Under the Mentorship ofMs. Geetha Iyer

INTRODUCTIONWith the modern world being consumed by all forms of media-patients and consumers do not solely seek the help of doctors for the treatment of certain common ailments. And with the advent of increased brand awareness as a factor it is important for pharmaceutical companies to identify effective marketing strategies for their drugs and medicines. Therefore it is important to understand the medium through which the market is more easily penetrable, either through doctors or advertisements for OTCs

STATEMENT OF PROBLEMWith many new drugs coming into the foray for the treatment of various ailments, it is difficult to establish and maintain a strong market share. Hence it is important to understand the treatment pattern among parents for common ailments in their children which is either through non-prescription medication therapy or prescription based medication therapy.

REVIEW OF LITERATUREMost common illnesses in children constitute cold,cough,high fever,colic/stomach ache,headache and high temperature with reports suggesting that approximately 35.7 million drugs under these ailment categories were dispensed at pharmacies for children.Also, the main categories of drugs that have been prescribed by doctors for children were found out by a survey,which suggested antibacterials,analgesics and bronchodilators were common categories for children.In another survey about 8,145 children under the age of 5 were given an OTC medication in the month in which the survey was conducted.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY1. To understand firstly whether the parents prefer physician prescribed medicines or non-prescription medicines.

2. The secondary objective is to understand the factors which play a role in selecting a particular emergency drug for their children .

METHODOLOGYResearch method: - A primary research was conducted to understand the treatment pattern among parents for ailments in children. This topic required primary research since parents today do not treat their children for common ailments only through doctors consultation. Hence it is important to study presently the treatment pattern among parents for their childrens ailments. Parents of children-aged between 0 to 15 were the target audience.Questionnaire design: - The survey included questions with demographic characteristics, age, preference between non-prescribed and prescribed drugs,factors influencing their decisions. Multiple choice questions were framed and also some agreement questions and rating scales were used.Analysis plan:- The software used for analysis was SPSS. In SPSS, one sample T-test, cross- tabulation and pie chart/frequencies was used for interpreting the data.

ANALYSIS OF SURVEY DATA

Do you prefer treating ailments in your child/children through non-prescribed OTC(Over The Counter) medicines?FrequencyPercentValid PercentCumulative PercentValidYes2040.840.840.8No2959.259.2100.0Total49100.0100.0

T-TESTLIKELINESS OF AILMENTS WHICH REQUIRE DOCTOR CONSULTATION:

FactorMeanConclusionSore throat3.102Since the mean value is close to 3,it can be concluded that parents sometimes treat sore throats with the help of doctors Cold3.265Since the mean value is close to 3,it can be concluded that parents sometimes treat cold with the help of doctorsFever2.020Since the mean value is close to 2,it can be concluded that parents mostly treat fever with the help of doctorsCough2.918Since the mean value is close to 3,it can be concluded that parents sometimes treat cough with the help of doctorsVomiting2.429Since the mean value is close to 2,it can be concluded that parents mostly treat vomiting with the help of doctorsIndigestion2.939Since the mean value is close to 3,it can be concluded that parents sometimes treat indigestion with the help of doctors

Inference: It was found that about 75.5% of parents administer non-prescribed OTCs to children when the child suffers from a cold or cough .A smaller percentage of 20.4% parents cited work commitments as the reason to administer non-prescribed OTCs. Therefore suggesting that majority of the parents trusted cold and cough medicines and did not require consultation for such ailments.

In which situation do you administer only non-precribed OTC(Over The Counter) medicines in your child/children?FrequencyPercentValid PercentCumulative PercentValidFor cold,cough3775.575.575.5Midnight,working hours1020.420.495.9Everytime24.14.1100.0Total49100.0100.0

T-TESTINFLUENCE OF SOURCES OF INFORMATION IN ADMNISTERING MEDICINES:

FactorMeanConclusionTv4.449The mean value is close to 4,it can therefore be concluded that TV as a source of information is not very influentialNewspaper4.714The mean value is close to 5,it can therefore be concluded that newspapers are not at all influential as a source of information.Friends3.551The mean value is close to 3,it can therefore be concluded that Friends are somewhat influential as a source of informationFamily3.122The mean value is close to 3,it can therefore be concluded that Family is somewhat influential as a source of informationInternet3.837The mean value is close to 4,it can therefore be concluded that Internet as a source of information is not very influentialDoctor1.327The mean value is close to 1,it can be therefore concluded that Doctors are a highly influential source of information to parents

CROSS TABULATION

Inference:When the relation between childs age situation was examined,it was observed that childs age did not influence the situation to administer non-prescribed OTCs and that children across all age groups considered i.e 0-15,majority of the children were mostly administered non prescribed OTCs for cold and cough.

Child's age * In which situation do you administer only non prescribed OTC(Over The Counter) medicines in your child/children? CrosstabulationCount In which situation do you administer only non-prescribed OTC(Over The Counter) medicines in your child/children?TotalFor cold,coughMidnight,working hoursEverytimeChild's age0-361074-731048-11530812-15235230Total3710249

Inference: In this case,as observed above, parents did trust their own knowledge about ailments and medicines while administering only OTCs with 49% respondents claiming this as a factor. But previous prescriptions by doctors did prove to a major factor among parents too with 38.8% respondents voting for this as a factor, showing the important role of doctors when it comes to drug marketing.

What factors do you consider the most when you administer only non-prescribed OTC medicines in your child/children?FrequencyPercentValid PercentCumulative PercentValidKnowledge about ailments/medicines2449.049.049.0Elderly advice48.28.257.1Advertisements24.14.161.2Previous prescriptions1938.838.8100.0Total49100.0100.0

Inference: From the above pie chart it can be observed that most parents were either somewhat willing or less willing to try out new brands of medicines and chose to administer medicines which were better known to them.

How willing are you to try out new brands of medicines?FrequencyPercentValid PercentCumulative PercentValidVery willing12.02.02.0Willing510.210.212.2Somewhat willing2653.153.165.3Less willing1734.734.7100.0Total49100.0100.0

CONCLUSIONMajority of the parents dont prefer treating ailments without doctor consultation.Ailments like fever and vomiting is most likely to be treated by prescription medicines,therefore parents take their children to the doctor mostly in these cases among common ailments.Ailments such as cold and cough were most likely to be treated through non prescription OTCs.Doctors advice was seen as highly influential source of information among parents with respect to treatment of any ailment.Parents are not very willing to try out new brands of medicines and prefer using well known older brands.Parents claimed that knowledge about medicines and ailments was a factor in administering non-prescription OTCs which could be attributed to previous successful advertisement campaigns.Previous prescriptions were also a very important factor in prescribing non-prescribed OTCs,once again throwing light on the doctors importance in influencing their decision.

RECOMMENDATIONSDoctors are a major influence in most of the parents and therefore,it is important for most of the companies to target doctors for marketing drugs in various areas since their influence has not died down.Certain medicines for ailments like cold , cough and fever to an extent have benefitted majorly by advertising campaigns done throughout various generations therefore it can be recommended that similar campaigns and advertisements can be started for other easily treatable ailments like vomiting and indigestion whose medicines have a very low trust response due to lower advertising.Since ailments such as fever and vomiting are mostly treated by consultation with doctors, medicines under these categories have to be continually marketed through doctors.Parents today have claimed increased knowledge about medicines to be used for cold, cough and fever which could be attributed to successful advertising previously,therefore suggesting that advertising is an important means to influence parents decisions.Parents trust older,well known brands more when it comes to purchasing non-prescription medicines and therefore,new brands will find it difficult to enter into such a highly competitive market.Therefore, marketing such new brands through doctors is highly recommended to increase the initial market reach.