Consumers’ Medication Schema for Package Inserts

Background Due to the recent passage of the over-the-counter (OTC) drug sales bill,thirteen kinds of OTC drugs are now available at supermarkets and convenience stores inKorea. The present study was motivated by this change in OTC drug sales in Korea. Tohelp consumers take OTC drugs appropriately, we investigated how consumers perceivedpackage inserts by investigating their medication schema and further aimed to suggestways to improve the instruction design of package inserts.
Methods We sampled package inserts from the ten best selling OTC drugs in Koreaand selected twelve items for the survey. In the questionnaire, the participants were firstasked to order the twelve items according to their importance (order task) and then tocategorize the twelve items into groups (sort task). In addition to the main tasks, theparticipants were asked to indicate the items they did not know the meaning of and theunincluded items they wished to have included. Further, they were asked how often theyread package inserts. Finally, questions regarding sex and age were asked.
Results To extract the schema, hierarchical cluster analyses were carried out on the datafrom the order and sort tasks. The results suggest two-cluster solutions for both the orderand the sort tasks. For the order task, the three most important items: efficacy & effects,warning, and directions and doses were grouped together and the remaining items weregrouped into one group as well. For the sort task, one group included information onmedication intake and specific details regarding the drug, such as efficacy & effects,warnings, directions & doses, letter of “misuse/abuse concerns,” names and quantityof active ingredients, methods of storage, and so on. This information is usually whatconsumers need about medication. The other group included general information aboutdrug and pharmaceutical companies, such as the product name, company name andaddress, and package unit.
Conclusion The results of the present study provide a possible information designreflecting medication schema and thereby helping people easily access functionalinformation. Imposing structure on package inserts may encourage people to consultthem even when there is much information. In addition to structuring, increasingthe visibility or salience of important information can enhance its accessibility. Otherimportant improvements to be made are employing easy and frequently used wordsinstead of jargon and difficult Sino-Korean words, and avoiding overly technical anddetailed information.