Abstract:
The purpose of this independent study was to study the marketing mix factors affecting the decision of receiving the heart disease treatment in Thailand. A case study was conducted by focusing on the heart disease patients from Europe and Middle East. The samples consisted of 65 participants, selected by using quota sampling, and the questionnaire was used as an instrument for data collection. Statistics used for data analysis included Frequency, Percentage, Mean, Standard Deviation, Chi-square (x[superscript2]- Test), and the Pair Samples t-test.
According to the hypothesis testing between the demographic factors and the behaviors toward the decision to use the medical services about the heart disease, the results showed that gender, age, the average annual income, level of education, marital status, and domicile did not affect the decision to use the medical service about the heart disease of the foreign patients. These factors included the reasons to use the service, the number of using service, source of information, and the need for resting and recovery after the medical treatment service. However, occupation was the only factor significantly affecting the decision to use the medical service about the heart disease of the foreign patients in terms of source of information at a significance level of 0.05.
Regarding the marketing factors, the results revealed that both European and Middle East patients considered promotion as an important factor which differently affected their decision to use the medical service in terms of the number of using service, source of information, the most preferable place for resting and recovery at a significance level of 0.01. Besides, all of the marketing mix factors did not affect their decision in terms of the need for resting and recovery after the medical service.