Helping Patients and Physicians Make Sense of Medical Data

Brief Summary

Detailed Description

OBJECTIVES: Primary * Compare the effect of a prescription drug summary (one-page summary of drug information that includes a table with data on drug benefit and side effects) vs standard brief summary in direct-to-consumer advertisements on the comparisons of two drugs for the same indication, knowledge of drug efficacy and side effects of each drug. Secondary * Comprehension of information contained in the drug facts box and rating of the usability of the drug information. OUTLINE: This is a randomized study. Participants are contacted by phone via random-digit dialing for initial interview using the computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) system. Eligible participants are then randomized to 1 of 4 intervention arms. * Arm I: Participants receive 2 advertisements for a drug to treat heartburn with a drug facts second page. * Arm II: Participants receive 2 advertisements as in arm I for drugs to treat heatburn with the standard second page (i.e., brief summary). Participants in both arms complete the self-reported questionnaire mailed with the advertisement intervention. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 200 participants will be accrued for this study.

Primary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes

• Comprehension of information contained in the drug facts box and rating of the usability of the drug information