title: Direct-to-consumer advertising skepticism and the use and perceived usefulness of prescription drug information sources.
abstract: This study investigates advertising skepticism in the context of consumers' prescription drug information seeking behavior. Results of a telephone survey found that: (a) the overall level of direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) skepticism among consumers was neutral; (b) DTCA skepticism was unrelated to age, positively related to education and income, and varied by race; (c) however, when all the antecedent variables were considered concurrently, only education emerged as a significant predictor (consumers with higher education were more skeptical of DTCA); (d) DTCA skepticism was not significantly related to perceived importance of prescription drug information; (e) DTCA skepticism was not associated with use of advertising and interpersonal sources of prescription drug information; and (f) DTCA skepticism was negatively related to perceived usefulness of advertising sources but unrelated to perceived usefulness of professional interpersonal sources (i.e., physicians and pharmacists). The article concludes with a discussion of findings and directions for future research.
authors.affiliation: Nicholson School of Communication, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida 32816-1344, USA. ddelorme@mail.ucf.edu
authors.forename: Denise E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: DeLorme
authors.forename: Jisu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huh
authors.forename: Leonard N
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Reid
mesh_terms: D000329:Advertising; D001294:Attitude to Health; D054626:Consumer Health Information; D004345:Drug Industry; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D057226:Information Seeking Behavior; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055553:Prescription Drugs
chemical_list: D055553:Prescription Drugs