title: Psychosocial factors associated with the prescription of generic drugs.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate factors associated with "Generic drug prescription" (GDP) behaviour in Spain using the ASE (Attitude, Social Influence, Self-Efficacy) Model.
  
  
  METHODS
  General Practitioners were sent a validated and anonymous questionnaire measuring the ASE and Motivation variables for GDP and their generic drug prescription percentage. Most (n=486; 61.98%) responded to this cross-sectional survey. The mean scores and the 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated. A binary logistic regression was used to identify the variables that best predict GDP behaviour.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The main advantages and motivations for GDP were "saving money" and "protecting professional ethics". The greatest social influences were "doctors' personal preferences" and "authorities' pressure". GDP accounted for a scarce 15% of the total prescription. ASE and Motivation items were the best predictors: they explain 25% of being a 'high prescriber'. The highest prescribers were paediatricians (OR=5.07), workers in rural settings (OR=3.68) and professionals with high Motivation (OR=1.17) and Attitude (OR=1.11) scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  GDP percentage is very low compared with other countries. Interventions to modify the Attitudes of Primary Care doctors towards generic drugs should be implemented. Better informed patients, longer doctor appointment times and more varied dosage forms of generic drugs would also facilitate improvements in GDP.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Preventive Medicine and Public Health Area, University of Oviedo, C/Julián Clavería s/n, 33006 Oviedo, Asturias, Spain. rcalvillo@uniovi.es
authors.forename: Javier A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Calvillo
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lana
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cueto
authors.forename: Wolfgang A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Markham
authors.forename: Maria Luisa
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: López
mesh_terms: D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D016568:Drugs, Generic; D005260:Female; D058005:General Practitioners / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D013030:Spain; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D016568:Drugs, Generic