A Comparison of Older vs. Newer Over-the-Counter (OTC) Nonprescription Drug Labels on Search Time Accuracy

Abstract

The present study evaluated response time and accuracy to answer a series of questions of information in 16 (8 older and 8 newer ‘Drug Facts’) over-the-counter (OTC) drug labels. The newer labels include aspects, based on previous research, which should benefit performance. The results indicated that participant's response times were significantly faster with the newer labels compared to the older ones. However, this was not true of all OTC product samples. Accuracy was high (error rate low) for both label formats. Response times for females were significantly faster than males for both label types. The benefits of formatting text for facilitating information acquisition from drug labels and other kinds of printed information are discussed.