Main Article Content

Perceived threats of vision impairment and its effect on consumption pattern of dietary supplement of lutein and zeaxanthin


Frank FC Pan
Chen Sen-Chi
Chao Shun-Jung

Abstract

Purpose: To explore perceived threats of vision impairment as well as the perceived benefits and barriers of lutein-containing supplements using a health belief model (HBM), and also to assess how these may affect dietary supplement consumption behaviours.


Methods: A structured questionnaire was developed on HBM through a focus group interview to gather information from 1,075 drugstore customers in Taiwan. Respondents were 55.16 % female, 64.47 % married, 53.12 % aged between 31 and 50 years, and 91 % with at least a high school education.


Results: Perceived severity was much higher that perceived susceptibility. Susceptibility was the most stable construct. Occupation, residence area, and workplace were the top three factors differentiating the variance in HBM constructs. Perceived benefits appeared as the most powerful predictor, followed by perceived barriers. HBM predictors jointly explained 21.9 % of the variance in lutein- and zeaxanthintaking behaviour. Moderating effects of health-related information were not significant.


Conclusion: HBM is useful to understand this behaviour. Consumer behaviour is mainly affected by perceived benefits, and not the threat of vision impairment. Since people ignore the possibility of suffering severe vision impairment, more health education is required.


Journal Identifiers


eISSN: 1596-9827
print ISSN: 1596-5996