Point-of-Sale Buyer Information Network (BuyIN)

描述(由申请人提供)：美国成年人群中药物-膳食补充剂相互作用的发生率很高，预计还会增加。拟议项目的长期目标是通过向消费者提供可靠和广泛可用的信息资源，减少与未充分了解使用天然药物有关的风险。这一资源，买家信息网(BuylN)，将向收银机或销售点的膳食补充剂消费者提供最新的、科学有效的建议和警告。BuylN将专门设计的消息附加到购买了目标商品的客户的收据上。消息从远程服务器或本地CD-ROM播放器下载。信息由合格的内容提供商提供并定期更新。该项目第一阶段的具体目标是证明BuylN办法的技术可行性，并对其效用进行试验性评估。此外，这项研究还将收集有关BuylN如何影响消费者行为和消费者感知的初步数据。一旦实现了这些目标，该项目的第二阶段将：建立该方法的可扩展性(可扩展性)；衡量对消费者选择和行为的长期影响；探索更多与CAM相关的研究机会；对零售商、制造商和其他利益相关者进行关键的线人访谈；并为广泛传播该应用程序的商业努力做好准备。研究设计采用了多种方法来实现研究目标。其中包括将访问BuylN网站作为感兴趣的量化指标，以及一种调查工具。调查将评估消息传递系统的有效性，包括通过BuylN传递的信息对消费者未来行为和决策的影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Incidences of drug-dietary supplement interactions in the adult U.S. population are high and expected to increase. The long-term goal of the proposed project is to reduce risks associated with the inadequately informed use of natural medicines by providing a reliable and widely available information resource to consumers. This resource, the Buyer Information Network (BuylN), will provide up-to-date, scientifically valid recommendations and warnings to consumers of dietary supplements at the cash register or point of sale. BuylN appends specially designed messages to receipts of customers who have purchased targeted items. Messages are downloaded from a remote server or local CD-ROM player. Information is provided by a qualified content provider and regularly updated. Specific aims in the first phase of the project are to demonstrate the technical feasibility of the BuylN approach and conduct pilot evaluation of its utility. In addition, the study will gather preliminary data on how BuylN influences consumer behavior and on the perceptions of consumers. Once these goals are achieved, the second phase of the project will: establish the scalability (expandability) of the approach; measure longer-term effects on consumer choices and behavior; explore additional CAM-related research opportunities; conduct key informant interviews with retailers, manufacturers and other stakeholders; and position for a commercial effort toward wide dissemination of the application. The research design uses several methods to achieve the goals of the study. These include visits to the BuylN Website as a quantitative indicator of interest, and a survey instrument. The survey will assess the effectiveness of the message delivery system including the effect of information delivered through BuylN on the future behavior and decisions of consumers.