# IMPROVING MEDICATION INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE ELDERLY

> **NIH NIH R01** · DECISION SYSTEMS · 1993 · $124,233

## Abstract

Medication nonadherence is a pervasive, multidimensional problem among
elders.  It is often caused by poor communication practices and
age-related declines in cognitive abilities.  We plan to improve
communication through Expanded Medication Instructions, which should
effectively complement labels because they are more complete and can be
well-organized.  The proposed research will expand our work on the
organization of expanded instructions.  Drawing on current theories of
instruction processing, we will examine the influence of instruction
organization on how well older and young readers understand and remember
medication instructions (and their awareness of these benefits), and on
how well they adhere to medication schedules.  We will also examine if
the effects of these instructional factors depend on medication (schedule
complexity) and motivation factors.

We will test if medication instructions that are compatible with readers'
schemas for taking medication are more effective than less compatible
instructions.  The experiments measure the mental representation of
medication information, comprehension and recall of instructions,
self-assessment of comprehension and recall, and preferences for these
instructions.  We also test if compatible expanded instructions are more
effective than labels in promoting adherence.  Experiment 1 examines
young and older subjects' schemas for taking medication.  Experiment 2
examines if instructions with text formats that are compatible with the
schema(s) are understood most easily and remembered most accurately.
Experiments 3-4 examine if instructions with explicit formats are most
effective.  Experiment 5 examines the influence of visual-graphic as well
as text formats on instruction comprehension and memory.  The final two
experiments directly compare prescription labels and expanded
instructions.  Experiment 6 examines how well these instructions convey
multiple medication schedules.  Experiment 7 tests if expanded
instructions are more effective in promoting adherence to complex
schedules.

The experiments should converge to show that instructions are more easily
processed when they explicitly signal the organization that matches the
reader's task schema.  They should lead to more effective medication
instructions, which in turn should improve adherence, so that elders can
lead independent lives for a longer time.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3121068
- **Project number:** 5R01AG009254-02
- **Recipient organization:** DECISION SYSTEMS
- **Principal Investigator:** Daniel G Morrow
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1993
- **Award amount:** $124,233
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1992-08-20 → 1994-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3121068

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3121068, IMPROVING MEDICATION INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE ELDERLY (5R01AG009254-02). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3121068. Licensed CC0.

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