Relative Placement of Benefit and Risk Information in Direct-to-Consumer Advertisements of Prescription Drugs on the World Wide Web

Two studies addressed aspects related to consumers obtaining risk information about prescription drugs. The first study surveyed people's beliefs and perceptions concerning the use of nine potential sources of prescription drug information (eg, physicians and pharmacists). Two hundred thirteen participants were asked to rate potential sources of prescription drug information according to: (1) likelihood-of-use, (2) perceived ease-of-use, and (3) completeness of information. Because manufacturers' direct-to-consumer (DTC) prescription drug websites were rated relatively high in Study 1, a second study was conducted to examine how benefit and risk information was being presented in manufacturers' DTC websites. Study 2 consisted of an examination of website characteristics (eg, the number-of-clicks and amount of scrolling required) of 20 randomly chosen manufacturers' DTC prescription drug websites in two separate time periods (March 2001 and July 2003). The current results suggest that risk information is more difficult to access than benefit information. Implications for the delivery of risk information are discussed with particular emphasis on the growing use of the World Wide Web.

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“…Acknowledgments-Portions of this research were presented at the 2001 and 2002 Human Factors and Ergonomics Society annual meetings (16,17).…”

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confidence: 99%

Placement of Benefits and Risks in Prescription Drug Manufacturers’ Websites and Information Source Expectations

Hicks

Wogalter

Vigilante³

2005

Drug Information J

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“…Without this information, an Internet shopper, who is already at a disadvantage without being able to touch or physically inspect the product for obvious dangers, may not know the hazards of a purchase. In addition, the lack of regulations specifying where and how warning labels must be placed within a retail web site is an incentive for companies to reduce the presence of safety information (Hicks, Vigilante and Wogalter 2001). However, this strategy may be misguided.…”

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confidence: 99%

Comparison of On-Line and Physical Presentation of Product Safety Information

Santos

Resnick

2002

Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual

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The Internet has become a popular channel for the purchase of products. In 2001, $53 billion was spent online by U.S. consumers and $128 billion by non-U.S. consumers. However, there are few guidelines for how product safety information should be presented in on-line stores, generally leading to a lack of easily accessible information. This leads to several challenges for consumers. If no safety information is presented, consumers may choose not to purchase the product. Or they may purchase the product only to return it after reading the warnings on the physical product, or use the product and be injured. This study investigated the differences in behavior, perception, and comprehension when consumers purchased a toy for a 3-year old on-line and through the physical channel. Several differences in behavior were identified. Encouragingly, there were no significant differences in compliance, measured by the selection of ageappropriate toys, between the Internet and physical channels. However, perceptions were different. Participants were more likely to notice the warning on the Internet channel and more likely to recall and comprehend its recommendations. The results also supported previous studies that showed that users are more likely to notice, comprehend, and comply with wamings when they are presented saliently. This study extended that result to warnings presented through the Internet channel. Behavioral differences were also found. Participants relied more heavily on written product information to make their purchase choices on the Internet, perhaps because of their inability to make direct observations of the product. This highlights the critical importance of providing effective warnings online.

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Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Advertising of Prescription Medications on the World Wide Web: Assessing the Communication of Risks

Vigilante

Wogalter

2001

Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual

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Recently, drug manufacturers have been increasingly marketing their prescription medications using Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) advertisements. The current study examines the effects of integrating and separating the risks and benefits within a prescription medication DTC web site advertisement. The study also examined the effects of presenting the risk and benefits at different levels of a web site. Two different drug web sites and two different task types (general browsing and item search) were used. Risk recall, recognition, time-on-task, click rate, and task success were measured. Results from the current study indicated that risk information was found faster, with less clicks, and remembered more often when placed on a second level page linked from the home page. However, the risk information was more difficult to find when it was placed on a fourth level page without a link on the home page. The pattern of effects with the two tasks was similar. No significant differences were found between the two drugs. A set of guidelines is provided for the development of DTC prescription drug web sites based on the results. It is beneficial (a) to present separate risk and benefit information sections and (b) to place risk and benefit information in the top section of the home page or to prominently place a link to the risk information on the home page.

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Relative Placement of Benefit and Risk Information in Direct-to-Consumer Advertisements of Prescription Drugs on the World Wide Web

Cited by 4 publications

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Placement of Benefits and Risks in Prescription Drug Manufacturers’ Websites and Information Source Expectations

Placement of Benefits and Risks in Prescription Drug Manufacturers’ Websites and Information Source Expectations

Comparison of On-Line and Physical Presentation of Product Safety Information

Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Advertising of Prescription Medications on the World Wide Web: Assessing the Communication of Risks

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