Enhancing the educational value of direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs.

OBJECTIVES: The educational value of direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of prescription drugs hinges on its ability to convey important benefit and risk information to consumers. However, the literacy level required to understand some of the information presented in print advertisements may hinder DTCA's ability to educate consumers. The objective of this study was to compare the comprehension and retention of benefit and risk information between consumers who viewed an original print DTCA and those who viewed an advertisement modified according to health literacy principles.

DESIGN: An experimental design was used to conduct the study. Participants were randomly assigned to view a modified print advertisement (experimental group) or the original print advertisement (control group) for an antidepressant medication.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Study participants were recruited from the University of Wisconsin Kidney Clinic.

OUTCOME MEASURES: Ten true-false and 10 multiple-choice questions were developed to assess participants' comprehension and retention of benefit and risk information.

RESULTS: A total of 120 participants were randomized to view either the original or the modified version of the advertisement. Regarding the comprehension and retention of only the benefit information, no significant differences were observed between the 2 groups. Significant differences were observed for comprehension and retention of only the risk information. The experimental group had significantly higher scores in comprehension (U = 1224; P < 0.01) and retention (U = 965; P < 0.01) of the risk information compared with the control group. These differences were also significant in multivariate analyses controlling for extraneous variables that were found to have associations with comprehension and retention of information.

CONCLUSION: Study results demonstrated that the health literacy techniques used to modify the advertisement were successful in enhancing both consumers' comprehension and their retention of information presented in a print DTCA. This was especially apparent for the risk information.