Perceptions amongst medication users regarding South African patient package inserts (PPIs) of scheduled and over-the-counter (OTC) medications

Abstract

This article reports on the PPI itself, its information, and language usage in the texts, as tested infocus-group sessions, using content analysis. Quantitative readability assessments of selectedPPIs revealed that the texts were mostly “difficult” or “very difficult”. However, readability relies notonly on text variables, but also on interaction between reader and text. From the findings, certainrecommendations are suggested to enhance the reader accessibility and cultural competenceof such documents. If PPIs, as a health communication tool, can be seen to be valuable andeasily comprehensible sources of medication information, they can fulfil a necessary role in healthliteracy, especially in a multicultural, developing country such as South Africa, one typified byhuge class differences and where more than two-thirds of its households fall within the lower- tomiddle-income groups.