ArticleHealth expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy2015
Understanding the medicines information-seeking behaviour and information needs of South African long-term patients with limited literacy skills.
Article in Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 38 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Effectiveness and Value of Written Medicine Information Across Asia and Africa: Systematic Review.Drug safety · 2021Pooled it
- Exploring nursing care needs and the role of sleep quality in women undergoing infertility treatment: implications for personalized nursing interventions.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Medication errors by caregivers in the homes of children discharged from a pediatric department in Ghana.Therapeutic advances in drug safety · 2024Article
- Patients' Experiences and Preferences for Medicine Information: An International Comparison Between Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda, and England.Patient preference and adherence · 2024Article
- Modifiable risk factors for diphtheria: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Global epidemiology · 2023Review
- Developing a framework for understanding health information behavior change from avoidance to acquisition: a grounded theory exploration.BMC public health · 2022Article
- Provision and Need for Medicine Information in Asia and Africa: A Scoping Review of the Literature.Drug safety · 2021Article
- Article
- Observational
- Level of medication self-management capacity among patients on ambulatory care exiting hospital pharmacy at Muhimbili National Hospital, Tanzania: a descriptive cross-sectional study.BMC research notes · 2019Article
- Associations between health literacy, HIV-related knowledge, and information behavior among persons living with HIV in the Dominican Republic.Public health nursing (Boston, Mass.) · 2018Article
- A Framework for Health Communication Across the HIV Treatment Continuum.Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999) · 2017Review
- Health-information needs of HIV-positive adults in Latin America and the Caribbean: an integrative review of the literature.AIDS care · 2016Review
- Empowering Hypertensive Patients in South Africa to Improve Their Disease Management: A Pharmacist-Led Intervention.Journal of research in pharmacy practiceArticle
- Source of medicines and medicine information by self-reported persons living with hypertension and diabetes in rural and urban Ghana.Pharmacy practiceArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAlthough much health information-seeking behaviour (HISB) research has been reported in patients with good literacy skills, little is known about HISB in patients with limited literacy skills served by under-resourced health-care systems.
objectiveTo investigate medicine information-seeking behaviour and information needs in patients with limited literacy.
methodsUsing a question guide, four focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted to explore themes related to information needs, information-seeking practices and awareness of and ability to utilize information sources. Twenty-two isiXhosa-speaking long-term patients with limited formal education were recruited from a primary health-care clinic in South Africa. Discussions were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. NVivo(®) was used for initial coding of transcripts. Codes were analysed, and potential themes and subthemes in the entire data set were identified and refined.
findingsThe results of this study reflect a passive, disempowered patient. Poor awareness of information sources, lack of health-related knowledge and stigma contributed to a lack of information-seeking practice, thus potentially adversely influencing patient-provider interactions. Patients neither asked questions nor were encouraged to ask questions. All expressed an unmet need for information and a desire for receiving the illustrated written medicines-related information displayed in the FGDs. The main sources of information were health-care professionals, followed by family and friends.
conclusionThe significant level of patient disempowerment and passivity reported amongst patients underpinned their inability to actively seek information. Neither sources of information nor types of appropriate medicines information could be identified. Unmet information needs and a desire for information were reported.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.