Effective Communication of Patient Information Leaflets (PILs) in Selected Malaria Drugs in Nigeria

DeDemola Jolayemi, Destiny Idegbekwe

Abstract


Communication is a soul-train that connects the humans of the same speech community. Effective communication is even a larger soul-train that promotes a peaceful co-existence among the humans. It is established that fracas of all sorts ensue when a society debars effective communication; to misunderstand or not know medical inscriptions attracts the worst health catastrophe that a society can ever imagine. It is against this background that this study investigates if the educated Nigerian malaria users understand the instructions contained in selected Nigerian Malaria Drug Patient Information Leaflets (PILs). The study designed a questionnaire, which consisted of nine question items, and administered it on 900 educated Nigerians through the Google Form Online Outlet (GFOO). To analyse the data, the study applied the non-inferential tools of frequency count and percentage in order to draw conclusions from the natures and features of the data obtained for the study. The study presents, among other findings, that the majority of the educated Nigerians do not understand the PILs of the malaria drugs due to the strange or technical nature of the words, and the complex nature of the sentences used to write the leaflets.

 


Keywords


Malaria; Drug leaflets; Self-medication; Effective communication

Full Text:

PDF

References


Adeniji, O. (2015). Features and functions of informative and instructive leaflets accompanying selected medicinal drugs in Nigerian market. Journal of Business Administration and Management Sciences Research, 4(4), 075-083.

Adepu, R. & Swamy, M. (2012). Development and evaluation of patient information leaflets (PIL) Usefulness. Indian Journal of Pharmaceuticals Sciences, 74(2), 174-178.

Adibe, O., Igboeli, Ubaka, U., Udeogaranya, O., Onwudiwe P., & Ita, O. (2015). Evaluation of information contained in drug advertisement and promotion materials in Nigeria. Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research, 14(3), 539-544.

Ayanwale, B., Okafor, P., & Odukoya, O. (2017). Self-medication among rural residents in Lagos, Nigeria. Journal of Medicine in the Tropics, 65-71.

Beusekom, M., Grootens-Wiegers, P., Bos, W., Guchelaar, H., Broek, J. (2016). Low literacy and written drug information: Information-seeking, leaflet evaluation and preferences, and roles for images. International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy, 38, 1372-1379. DOI 10.1007/s11096-016-0376-4.

Burgers, C., Beukeboom, C., Sparks, L., & Diepeveen, V. (2015). How (not) to inform patients about drug use: Use and effects of negations in Dutch patient information leaflets. Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety, 24(2), 137-143. doi: 10.1002/pds.3679.

Clement, W. & Wales, Y. (2004). Readability and content of postoperative tonsillectomy instructions given to patients in Scotland. Clinical Otolaryngology, 29, 149-152.

Dollahite, J., Thompson, C. & McNew, R. (1996). Readability of printed sources of diet and health information. Patient Education and Counseling, 27, 123-134.

Eesa, R. (2011). Over the counter drug labels: A linguistic study. Journal of European Studies, 4(6), 34-63.

Etchells, E. (1999). A safe, effective adjunctive treatment for arthritis, and pretty much every other condition you’ll ever treat. Journal of Rheumatol, 26,1647-9.

Gal, I. & Prigat, A. (2005). Why organizations continue to create patient information leaflets with readability and usability problems: An exploratory study. Health Education Research: Theory and Practice, 20(4), 485-493.

Ghaemi, F. & Sheiban, R. (2014). Genre-based analysis of English patient information leaflets (PILs). International Journal of English Language and Linguistics Research, 2(2), 50- 55.

Glazer, H., Kirk, L. & Bosler, F. (1996). Patient education pamphlets about prevention, detection and treatment of breast cancer for low literacy women. Patient Education and Counseling, 27, 185-189.

Hill, A. (2003). Practical guide to patient education and information giving. In Woolfe A., Van Riel, P. (Eds.), Early rheumatoid arthritis. (pp. 109-27). London: Balliere Tindall.

Idegbekwe, D., & Nwala, M. (2016). Positive face strategies used in insurgency conversation: A focus on the PDP and the APC. Ikoku, 5(1), 44-49.

Johnson, M., Mailloux, S., & Fisher, D. (1997). The readability of HIV/AIDS educational materials targeted to drug users. American Journal of Public Health, 87, 112-113.

Jolayemi, D. (1997). Approaches to the teaching of literacy. Literacy and Reading in Nigeria. Reading Association of Nigeria (RAN), 7, 303-313.

Jolayemi, D. (2001). Goals in language education: Linguistic competence versus communicative competence. In S. T. Babatunde, V. A. Alabi, O. O. Oloruntoba-Oju, & O. I. Dunmade (Eds.), Viewpoints: A Tribute to Mary Tinuoye (pp. 47-60). Ilorin: MEL.

Jolayemi, D., & Mahmud, O. (2017). Road signs as linguistic landscape in Nigeria: A semiotic communication. International Journal of English Language and Linguistics Research, 5(5), 1-14, Published by European Centre for Research Training and Development, UK http://www.eajournals.org/wp-content/uploads/Road-Signs-as-Linguistic-Landscape-in-Nigeria-A-Semiotic-Communication.pdf 1 ISSN 2053-6305(Print), ISSN 2053-6313(online).

Kirksey, O., Harper, K., Thompson, S., & Pringle, M. (2004). Assessment of selected patient educational materials of various chain pharmacies. Journal of Health Communication, 9, 91-93.

Kyei, S., Ocansey, S., Koffuor, A., Abokyi, S., & Feni, A. (2014). Patients’ information leaflets: Its’ influence on ophthalmic patient education and medication compliance. British Journal of Medicine & Medical Research, 4(5), 1217-1230.

Laurea, T. (2013). Excuse me, what does it mean?: A socio-linguistic analysis of patient information leaflets in doctor-patient interaction. An unpublished M.A. Thesis of the Department of Linguistics and Literary Studies, University of Degli Studi di, Padova.

Nigeria Malaria Fact Sheet. Retrieved on the 31st of May, 2018, from: https://photos.state.gov/libraries/nigeria/231771/Public/December-MalariaFactSheet2.pdf

Ott, B., & Hardie, T. (1997). Readability of advance directive documents. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 29, 53-57.

Sustersic, M., Gauchet, A., Foote, A., & Bosson, J. (2016). How best to use and evaluate patient information leaflets given during a consultation: a systematic review of literature reviews. Health Expectations, 20: 531-542.

Zorn, M., & Ratzan, S. (2000). Health risk communication (current bibliographies in medicine 2000-7). National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/11285

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2019 Destiny Idegbekwe

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Share us to:   

Reminder

  • How to do online submission to another Journal?
  • If you have already registered in Journal A, then how can you submit another article to Journal B? It takes two steps to make it happen:

1. Register yourself in Journal B as an Author

  • Find the journal you want to submit to in CATEGORIES, click on “VIEW JOURNAL”, “Online Submissions”, “GO TO LOGIN” and “Edit My Profile”. Check “Author” on the “Edit Profile” page, then “Save”.

2. Submission

Online Submission: http://cscanada.org/index.php/ccc/submission/wizard

  • Go to “User Home”, and click on “Author” under the name of Journal B. You may start a New Submission by clicking on “CLICK HERE”.
  • We only use four mailboxes as follows to deal with issues about paper acceptance, payment and submission of electronic versions of our journals to databases: caooc@hotmail.com; office@cscanada.net; ccc@cscanada.net; ccc@cscanada.org

 Articles published in Cross-Cultural Communication are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY).

 CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION Editorial Office

Address: 1055 Rue Lucien-L'Allier, Unit #772, Montreal, QC H3G 3C4, Canada.
Telephone: 1-514-558 6138 
Website: Http://www.cscanada.net; Http://www.cscanada.org 
E-mail:caooc@hotmail.com; office@cscanada.net

Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture