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Online narratives about medical tourism in Malaysia and Thailand: a qualitative content analysis
Citation
Mutalib, NSA and Soh, YC and Wong, TW and Yee, SM and Yang, Q and Murugiah, MK and Ming, LC, Online narratives about medical tourism in Malaysia and Thailand: a qualitative content analysis, Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing, 34, (6) pp. 821-832. ISSN 1054-8408 (2017) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
Copyright 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
DOI: doi:10.1080/10548408.2016.1250697
Abstract
This study explored the written online narratives about medical tourism in Malaysia and Thailand using qualitative content analysis. The Google search engine was used for narrative search. Multiple search terms including medical, health, wellness tourism; treatment abroad; medical or health travel; treatment, surgery, or plastic surgery; dental treatment or braces were used to obtain related blog posts, discussions, and forums via a purposeful sampling method. A total of 43 online narratives were included in this study. Themes were then created after an iterative analysis of the selected online comments or posts. The push factors that act as motivators were: cost (100%), attractions (81%), availability of facilitators (62%), physician’s background and expertise (58%), bandwagon effect (42%). The majority of the subjects (88%) stated that they were satisfied with the outcomes of their medical treatments received in Malaysia and Thailand.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
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Keywords: | health services management, health tourism, plastic surgery, patient preference, cost reduction, qualitative content analysis |
Research Division: | Biomedical and Clinical Sciences |
Research Group: | Pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences |
Research Field: | Clinical pharmacy and pharmacy practice |
Objective Division: | Health |
Objective Group: | Evaluation of health and support services |
Objective Field: | Health education and promotion |
UTAS Author: | Ming, LC (Dr Long Ming) |
ID Code: | 114083 |
Year Published: | 2017 (online first 2016) |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 15 |
Deposited By: | Pharmacy |
Deposited On: | 2017-02-04 |
Last Modified: | 2017-12-12 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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