The Influence of Need for Cognition and Principal Display Panel Factors on Over-the-Counter Drug Facts Label Comprehension

Abstract

Nearly all work aimed at optimizing the ability of labeling to communicate over-the-counter (OTC) drug information has focused on back-of-the-package characteristics, such as the Drug Facts label. The effects of front of the package, or principal display panel (PDP) factors, have largely been neglected by researchers. Similarly, heterogeneity in consumers' approach to new information has received scant attention in the context of OTC drugs. This preliminary study tested the hypothesis that display of a drug's brand name on the PDP and individuals' need for cognition influence comprehension of Drug Facts label information. University students (n = 212) that had experienced heartburn but not used the drug class being studied constituted the primary analysis cohort. Students were randomly assigned to review one of two PDPs (brand name or generic), followed by a Drug Facts label and a series of questions related to selection and usage of the drug. Participants with low need for cognition were influenced by the brand name PDP, as those exposed to a PDP featuring a brand (vs. generic) spent less time reading the Drug Facts label and demonstrated lower comprehension of the label information on proper drug selection. These findings suggest that further research is needed to understand the impact of PDP contents and cognitive characteristics of consumers on the communication of OTC drug information. Health care providers should consider communication strategies that account for the challenges patients face in using OTC drugs properly.

Notes

¹All analyses that are reported here are based on the primary analysis cohort, but analyses of the secondary cohort are available upon request from the authors.

²Based on prior research suggesting the importance of consumer knowledge in product evaluation (e.g., Alba & Hutchinson, 1987), participants' self-rated knowledge of OTC medications was measured. Inclusion of this variable did not significantly influence results, so we report the ANOVA results without the covariate for simplicity.

³A full summary of participant demographic information is available upon request from the corresponding author.