A comparison of older vs. newer over-the-counter (OTC) nonprescription drug labels on search time accuracy

Consumer Opinions on Existing and Proposed Australian Over-the-Counter Medicine Labeling Strategies in Comparison With the Standardized US Drug Facts Label

“…When examining research conducted in relation to the Drug Facts label, while evidence suggests that it was an improvement on label formats available around the time of its proposal, some evaluations 8,9 were conducted after its introduction. Unsurprisingly, issues pertinent to potentially reduced OTC label quality still exist after implementation of the Drug Facts label, 30,31 highlighting the critical role of post-implementation evaluation, in conjunction with thorough pre-implementation needs analysis and performance testing.…”

“…7 Other studies have also noted an improved time taken to find information when using the Drug Facts label compared to older label formats. 8,9…”

Age Differences in Search Time for Two Over-Thecounter (OTC) Drug Label Formats

“…This study closely followed the procedure previously described in Shaver and Wogalter (2003) with the exception that in the present study only eight (half) of the complete set of products were reviewed by participants. Deviation from the Shaver and Wogalter (2003) procedure was due to the inclusion of older adults who became fatigued when pilot tested with the full procedure. All participants were tested individually in sessions that lasted approximately 1.5 hours.…”

“…Medication stimuli were completely counterbalanced such that all participants saw only half of the 16 products in Table 1. This deviation from the procedure used by Shaver and Wogalter (2003) was necessary because pilot tests with older participants indicated the need to shorten the experimental session to combat fatigue effects. Participants were exposed to eight different products (four products with the older label format and another four products with the newer format).…”

Formatted Text Improves the Communication of Credit Card Information: Effects on Response Time

“…Research on formatting other kinds of visual displays shows information presented in a list-type format is beneficial in reducing search time and increasing accuracy in information acquisition (Tullis, 1983). In the U.S., the structured format in food nutrition labels has been such a success that over-the-counter (OTC or nonprescription) drug labels are now standardized using a list-type format in most cases (FDA, 2005;FDA 2009;Mendat, Watson, Mayhorn, & Wogalter, 2005;Shaver & Wogalter, 2003).…”