ArticleBMC family practice2014
Patient information leaflets: informing or frightening? A focus group study exploring patients' emotional reactions and subsequent behavior towards package leaflets of commonly prescribed medications in family practices.
Article in BMC family practice, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 48 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
48 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 105 citations in OpenAlex.
- Potential negative impact of informing patients about medication side effects: a systematic review.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2018Pooled it
- Trial
- Trial
- Alternative package leaflets improve people's understanding of drug side effects-A randomized controlled exploratory survey.PloS one · 2018Trial
- Artificial intelligence-powered chatbots for oral anticancer drug patient information: an assessment of quality.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2026Article
- Patient use, understanding, and behaviour toward patient information leaflets for medicines: a cross-sectional study of adults in Italy.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2026Article
- Article
- Multicentre quality improvement initiative to improve patient education and safety in the prescription of Sodium-Glucose transporter 2 inhibitors.BMJ open quality · 2025Article
- The Comprehension, Cosmetics, Convenience, Content, and Credibility of Infographic Patient Information Leaflets (iPILs) Compared to Existing PILs (ePILs).Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Medication literacy and its social contextuality.Health (London, England : 1997) · 2024Article
- A mobile app for chronic disease self-management for individuals with low health literacy: A multisite randomized controlled clinical trial.Journal of ageing and longevity · 2024Article
- Opinions and perceptions of patients with cardiovascular disease on adherence: a qualitative study of focus groups.BMC primary care · 2024Article
- Co-design of patient information leaflets for germline predisposition to cancer: recommendations for clinical practice from the UK Cancer Genetics Group (UKCGG), Cancer Research UK (CRUK) funded CanGene-CanVar Programme and the Association of Genetic Nurse Counsellors (AGNC).Journal of medical genetics · 2024Article
- A Cross-Sectional Evaluation of Knowledge of Medicine Safety and Frequency of Reading Medication Leaflets and Its Predictors - Insights from Saudi Adults in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.International journal of general medicine · 2024Article
- Handling polypharmacy -a qualitative study using focus group interviews with older patients, their relatives, and healthcare professionals.BMC geriatrics · 2023Article
- Are we providing complete drug information to its users? Status of information adequacy of package insert in India.Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2023Article
- A mobile app for chronic disease self-management for individuals with low health literacy: A multisite randomized controlled clinical trial.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2023Article
- Communication of anticancer drug benefits and related uncertainties to patients and clinicians: document analysis of regulated information on prescription drugs in Europe.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2023Article
- Utility of patient information leaflet and perceived impact of its use on medication adherence.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Public awareness regarding the manufacturer provided information about medicine usage, safety, and adverse drug reactions in Balochistan, Pakistan.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe purpose of patient information leaflets (PILs) is to inform patients about the administration, precautions and potential side effects of their prescribed medication. Despite European Commission guidelines aiming at increasing readability and comprehension of PILs little is known about the potential risk information has on patients. This article explores patients' reactions and subsequent behavior towards risk information conveyed in PILs of commonly prescribed drugs by general practitioners (GPs) for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes, hypertension or hypercholesterolemia; the most frequent cause for consultations in family practices in Germany.
methodsWe conducted six focus groups comprising 35 patients which were recruited in GP practices. Transcripts were read and coded for themes; categories were created by abstracting data and further refined into a coding framework.
resultsThree interrelated categories are presented: (i) The vast amount of side effects and drug interactions commonly described in PILs provoke various emotional reactions in patients which (ii) lead to specific patient behavior of which (iii) consulting the GP for assistance is among the most common. Findings show that current description of potential risk information caused feelings of fear and anxiety in the reader resulting in undesirable behavioral reactions.
conclusionsFuture PILs need to convey potential risk information in a language that is less frightening while retaining the information content required to make informed decisions about the prescribed medication. Thus, during the production process greater emphasis needs to be placed on testing the degree of emotional arousal provoked in patients when reading risk information to allow them to undertake a benefit-risk-assessment of their medication that is based on rational rather than emotional (fearful) reactions.
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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.