Socio-Cultural Factors of Consumption of Medicines in Cross-National and Intra-Ukrainian Dimensions

Abstract

Socio-cultural factors of consumption of medicines concerning the patient and the medical staff are considered. Author analyzes the relevant scientific discourse and the experience of empirical research carried out, in particular, with the use of tools for social values study, proposed by of R. Inglegart, G. Hofstede, S. Schwartz, G. Eisenck, and others. On the basis of the secondary analysis of databases of the Eurobarometer survey, the peculiarities of drug consumption in the EU and Ukraine are analyzed. It is found that there are significant correlations between socio-economic, institutional and socio-cultural indicators that characterize the quality of life in EU societies as well as in Ukrainian and practices of the drugs consumption. The revealed results point to the social (socio-cultural, institutional and economic) embeddedness of drug use practices. It turns out that the most adequate theoretical and methodological "framework" to explain these findings is neo-institutionalism, which draws the attention of researchers to the social preconditions for the success of managerial innovations. In the process of reforming the health sector, and the pharmaceutical institute in particular, in today's Ukrainian society, the relevance of such a study is increasing the potential of government reform programs.