Using Protection Motivation Theory to develop a survey of over-the-counter decision-making by older adults

Older adults (aged 65+) are responsible for 30% of the over-the-counter (OTC) medication use in the US. Each year, over 175,000 older adults are hospitalized due to OTC-related adverse drug events (ADEs). A major barrier to improving OTC use has been the dearth of actionable research on factors that affect older adult decision-making during OTC selection. Risk perception and health literacy are two such factors known to impact health behavior. However, to date no studies have characterized risk perceptions of OTCs nor how they relate to health literacy in the decision-making processes of older adults.

This paper presents the development and validation of a survey instrument to measure older adults' risk perception toward over-the-counter medications. The survey also explores the relation of risk perception to health literacy efficacy.

The Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) and the Tripartite Risk Perception Model (TRIRISK model) formed the basis for conceptualizing relationships between this study's constructs of interest. The utility of the PMT and the TRIRISK model in the context of OTC medication safety was tested in a survey of 103 older adults; exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and Spearman's correlation coefficients were used to test construct validity.

The EFA yielded a 4-factor model of protection motivation, which included deliberative risk perception, emotional risk perception, perceived threat severity, and perceived coping efficacy. The EFA-based item reduction resulted in a final 14-item OTC Protection Motivation survey.

The survey generated through this study is a tool for characterizing older adult risk perceptions of OTCs. The development of a measure of OTC risk perceptions is a promising step toward designing and evaluating patient-centered interventions to improve older adult medication safety.