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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Icons improve older and younger adults' comprehension of medication information | | Author(s) | Daniel G Morrow, Catherine M Hier, William E Menard |
| Journal title | The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological sciences and social sciences, vol 53B, no 4, July 1998 |
| Pages | pp P240-P254 |
| Keywords | Drugs ; Cognitive processes ; Age groups [elderly] ; Young adults [20-25] ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | Two experiments were conducted regarding younger and older adults' understanding of medication information. In Experiment 1, comprehension of instructions with a timeline icon, and without the icon (text only) was assessed for information that was: implicit in the text but depicted explicitly by the icon (total dose in 24hr period); stated and depicted in the icon/text condition (medication dose and times); and stated but not depicted by the icon (e.g. side effects). Participants also recalled medication instructions (with or without icon) after a study period. Questions about dose and time information were answered more quickly and accurately with the icon present in the instructions. In Experiment 2, instructions from Experiment 1 were used, in three versions, one to each of three groups of participants: integrated timeline icon and text instructions; timeline icon and separate text instructions; and text only. The integrated version again produced the most satisfactory results both for comprehension and memory. The findings show that integrated timeline icons improved comprehension primarily by aiding the integration of dose and time information, and have implications for medication instruction design. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-980903237 A |
| Classmark | LLD: DA: BB: SD6: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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