Tong, V, Raynor, DK orcid.org/0000-0003-0306-5275 and Aslani, P (2016) 'It's all there in black and white' - or is it? Consumer perspectives on the proposed Australian Medicine Information Box over-the-counter label format. Health Expectations, 19 (4). pp. 948-961. ISSN 1369-6513
Abstract
Background: Over-the-counter (OTC) labels help support safe medication use by consumers. In 2012, the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) released a consultation paper proposing OTC label standardization to improve label quality via implementation of the Medicine Information Box (MIB) label. However, consumer opinions of the MIB and standardization of OTC labelling remain unexplored. Objective: To explore consumer perspectives of OTC label standardization and the proposed MIB. Design: Mock MIB labels were developed by the research team, guided by the TGA consultation paper, and used as interview stimulus material. Participants and setting: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 38 Australian and 39 UK adult participants. Participant perspectives on OTC label standardization, opinions on the MIB and perceived improvements were explored. All interviews were audio-recorded with permission, transcribed verbatim, and the content thematically analysed. Results: Participants expressed a range of opinions towards OTC label standardization, from welcoming standardization to concern that important details may be overlooked. The MIB was generally positively received due to its perceived good information design and ease of navigation. Participants requested reordering of information-specifically, for the active ingredient to be moved to a less prominent position. Suggested improvements centred on content and design changes, for example colour, pictograms, bolding. Conclusions: Participants felt positively towards OTC label standardization and saw the MIB as a feasible standardized format to implement for OTC labels. Although they appreciated its good information design, they felt further improvements to its content and design are required to enhance its quality and usability.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2015 The Authors. Health Expectations published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | consumers; drug labelling; non-prescription medicines; over-the-counter; self-management |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Healthcare (Leeds) > Pharmacy (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 05 Jan 2016 12:16 |
Last Modified: | 04 Nov 2016 00:28 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/hex.12389 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/hex.12389 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:93033 |