Direct-to-consumer advertising skepticism and the use and perceived usefulness of prescription drug information sources.
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.
DeLorme
Denise E
DE
Nicholson School of Communication, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida 32816-1344, USA. ddelorme@mail.ucf.edu
Huh
Jisu
J
Reid
Leonard N
LN
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
D055553:Prescription Drugs