TY - JOUR
T1 - List formats improve medication instructions for older adults
AU - Morrow, Daniel
AU - Von Leirer, V.
AU - Altieri, Patsy
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by National Institute on Aging Grants R01 AGO8521 and R01 AG09254. We thank the senior centers in Saratoga and Mountain View, California, for help in recruiting subjects. Daniel Morrow is now at the University of New Hampshire. Address correspondence to Daniel Morrow, Department of Psychology, Conant Hall, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824.
PY - 1995
Y1 - 1995
N2 - Do older adults better understand and remember medication instructions when they are presented in more explicit formats? List instructions should help patients understand how to take their medication and serve as a guide for pharmacists’ consultations with their patients. In three experiments, analyses of variance were performed with medication instruction format-categorized list, simple list, or paragraph-as a repeated measure. Analyses in Experiments 2 and 3 also included age and education level as between-groups variables. Medication instructions were more effective when formatted as a list than when formatted as a paragraph. Subjects preferred the categorized list to the simple list and preferred both list formats to the paragraph (Experiment 1). They answered questions about both list instructions more quickly than they answered questions about the paragraph (Experiment 2), and they recalled more information from the simple list than from the other instructions because they were able to read more of this list during the study period (Experiment 3). Subjects were also aware of the benefits of list instructions for comprehension of and memory for medication information. The results suggest that medication instructions organized as a list help older adults understand how to take their medication and may motivate them to use these instructions as a guide to adherence. List instructions may also help structure the pharmacist consultation that is now federally mandated for many patients.
AB - Do older adults better understand and remember medication instructions when they are presented in more explicit formats? List instructions should help patients understand how to take their medication and serve as a guide for pharmacists’ consultations with their patients. In three experiments, analyses of variance were performed with medication instruction format-categorized list, simple list, or paragraph-as a repeated measure. Analyses in Experiments 2 and 3 also included age and education level as between-groups variables. Medication instructions were more effective when formatted as a list than when formatted as a paragraph. Subjects preferred the categorized list to the simple list and preferred both list formats to the paragraph (Experiment 1). They answered questions about both list instructions more quickly than they answered questions about the paragraph (Experiment 2), and they recalled more information from the simple list than from the other instructions because they were able to read more of this list during the study period (Experiment 3). Subjects were also aware of the benefits of list instructions for comprehension of and memory for medication information. The results suggest that medication instructions organized as a list help older adults understand how to take their medication and may motivate them to use these instructions as a guide to adherence. List instructions may also help structure the pharmacist consultation that is now federally mandated for many patients.
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U2 - 10.1080/0360127950210204
DO - 10.1080/0360127950210204
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:21844517887
SN - 0360-1277
VL - 21
SP - 151
EP - 166
JO - Educational Gerontology
JF - Educational Gerontology
IS - 2
ER -