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Reading and Understanding a

Medicine Leaflet by Adolescent Co

nsumers and Its Determinants

Siriporn Burapadaja

Busabong Jamreondararasame

Jaratbhan Sanguansermsri

Faculty of Pharmacy Chiang Mai University

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PROBLEM STATEMENT

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Importance to study

• There is an increase of medication• There are still problems of inappropriate

medication • A problem is that consumers have little

information• A leaflet is an official source of information• Reading and understanding a leaflet is a

way to obtain information

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Advantages of reading and understanding of a leaflet

• Increasing compliance

• Increasing awareness of possible adverse actions

• Improving knowledge

• Preventing drug-related problems

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Study questions

• Do consumers read and understand

a leaflet?

• What are the factors affecting the

consumer’s reading and

understanding a leaflet ?

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OBJECTIVE

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To determine if consumers read

and understand leaflets about medi

cines, and the factors

affecting a consumer’s reading and

understanding of a leaflet

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DESIGN

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Phase A Leaflet Content

Design: Cross-sectional design

Population: “Dangerous medicines”

Community pharmacy

Sampling: Purposive sampling (n=154)

Analysis: Content analysis

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WHO Guideline of the Information for a Leaflet

Medicine name Precaution

Composition Contraindication

Indication Adverse effect

Dosage Specific warning

Property Storage condition

Duration of treatment

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Phase B Consumer’s reading

Design: Cross-sectional design

Population: University freshmen

Sampling: Systematic sampling

(n=348)

Tool: A questionnaire

Analysis: Path analysis

•

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Theory: Social Cognitive

Variables: Attitude

Belief

Personal influence

Availability

Access

Content barrier

Self-efficacy

Reading a leaflet

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Phase C Consumer’s understanding

Design: A two-group experiment

An original leaflet :

A leaflet was selected from the sample based on

-separating from its label

-having one composition

-having at least 9 topics

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A new leaflet was developed by using

the same content but different design

Criteria for easily understood leaflet:

Using simple words

Emphasizing critical words

Separating sentence into items

Putting content in order

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A 24-item Test

• A test for content understanding

• This test covered the leaflet content

• It had 24 items

• Each item had three choices

• A correct choice was given a score

• The total possible score was 24

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Original New

Group 1 Group 2

A 24-item test of understanding

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RESULTS

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Phase A

Presence of topic

Topic % leaflet

Dosage 99.3

Name 97.4

Indication 96.7

Composition 59.7

Specific warning 43.5

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Topic % leaflet

Precaution 40.2

Property 39.6

Duration 33.1

Contraindication 29.9

Adverse effect 25.3

Storage condition 20.8

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1Almost all leaflets contained less information than that suggested by WHO

2 There were technical terms that might be difficult to understand

3 A separate leaflet would have more information

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Phase B

1 Percentage of reading

17.5%

82.5%

Regular reading

Irregular reading

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2 Factors affecting the reading

2.1 Direct factors

Access to a leaflet Self-efficacy to read a leaflet

2.2 Indirect factors (via self-efficacy)

Content difficult to understand

Access to a leaflet

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57%

76%

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

Group 1(original form)Group 2 (newform)

Group 1 Group 2

Phase CUnderstanding level and a relevant factor

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CONCLUSIONS

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Most consumers seldom read a leafletregularly when buying or taking

a medicine because of little access to it and low self-efficacy to read

difficult content

The consumer’s understanding of a leaflet was unsatisfactory

because of content difficult to understand

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There were shortages of leafletLittle access to a leafletContent difficult to understandInsufficient information

These shortages should be improved in order that consumers could read and understand a leaflet

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Reasons to improve the leaflets

• To empower consumers in caring for their medication and health

• To provide more access to information on medication

• To create a supportive leaflet• To guarantee health care provision

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SUGGESTIONS

• A leaflet should be separate from its label

• A leaflet should be understandable by passing a test of understanding

• Like a label, a leaflet should have a standard information for consumers

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Thank you

for your attention