Abstract
Consumer perceived risk associated with prescription drugs was evaluated using Jacoby and Kaplan's definition of overall risk as a function of performance, safety, financial, psychological, and social risks. Patients in an outpatient pharmacy (n = 100) were asked to evaluate four classes of drugs: cough/cold, antihypertensives, sedatives, and hypnotics. The results indicate that consumers do perceive a different level of risk for each drug class. Although safety risk was the most common type perceived by the consumers, the significant correlation between overall risk and its components, specifically performance risk, should not be discounted.
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