title: Subjective health literacy and older adults' assessment of direct-to-consumer prescription drug ads.
abstract: Older adults are increasingly the intended target of direct-to-consumer (DTC) prescription drug ads, but limited evidence exists as to how they assess the educational value of DTC ads and, more importantly, whether their assessment depends on their level of health literacy. In-person interviews of 170 older adults revealed that those with low subjective health literacy evaluated the educational value of DTC ads significantly lower than did those with high subjective health literacy. The results prompt us to pay more scholarly attention to determining how effectively DTC ads convey useful medical information, particularly to those with limited health literacy.
authors.affiliation: Division of Media Studies, College of Social Science, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Republic of Korea. soontae@ewha.ac.kr
authors.forename: Soontae
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: An
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Muturi
mesh_terms: D000329:Advertising / Q000379:methods*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D054626:Consumer Health Information; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D057220:Health Literacy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055553:Prescription Drugs; D036301:Qualitative Research
chemical_list: D055553:Prescription Drugs