Abstract
This study is to investigate the level of understanding of the separation of dispensing and prescribing health policy in Korea and its associated factors. A questionnaire survey was conducted upon a sample of college students responded from 540, response rate 77.1%, 4 months after the introduction of the policy. The understanding level was measured using 4 question items describing the goal and motivation of the policy, and 8 items describing its operational rules. For each item, respondents were asked to mark whether the description was true or false. While the goal and motivation of the policy was relatively well informed (mean understanding score: 69.6 out of 100), the students did not have good understanding of the operational details of the policy (mean score: 32.5). The results of regression analyses showed that personal interest and agreement with the need of the policy were the most significant factors affecting the understanding level. It is suggested that, for other health policies in the future, policy makers in Korea need to develop more effective media communication strategies to inform general public of the practical details of the policy.
