JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

There are only two countries in the world (USA and New Zealand) that allow the pharmaceutical branch to advertise prescription medication directly to the consumers (DTCA). In the U.S., the companies invest greatly into this kind of advertising, and there is pressure on governments to allow it elsewhere, too. One argument the industry uses is the claim that customers will improve their knowledge of disease and treatment if they are exposed to DTCA.

Objective:

The article presents a test of whether DTCA indeed enhances knowledge and increases the levels of health literacy and empowerment.

Methods:

A snowball sample of N = 180 persons were randomly split into three experimental groups: one with a traditional information sheet participants were asked to read as part of an interview; the second group received a DTCA spot for an anti-depressant instead; and the third group received both. The DTCA was original material from the U.S. translated into Italian for the purpose of using it in the experiment. Dependent variables were measures of depression knowledge, depression literacy, and empowerment

Results:

None of the experimental groups showed any change in empowerment measures significantly different from other groups. For learning, however, there was a variety of different reactions. Depression literacy was assessed rather low when no traditional information medium was given to participants, and side effects knowledge was high when participants were exposed to the DTCA, alone or in combination with the traditional information sheet.

Conclusions:

All in all, there was not much support for learning by exposure to DTCA. The design of the experiment with presenting information in combinations of traditional and new media is considered helpful.