Do patients experience a personalized patient leaflet as personal?

Area of Science:

• Patient experience
• Health literacy
• Medication adherence

Background:

• Personalized patient leaflets (PPLs) aim to improve medication understanding and adherence.
• The patient's perception of personalization and the influence of health literacy are not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore patient experiences with the personal nature of PPLs.
• To investigate the role of health literacy in recognizing personalized information.

Main Methods:

• Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 participants in community pharmacies.
• Personalized patient leaflets were tailored to individual patient characteristics and medical information.
• Thematic analysis was used to analyze verbatim interview transcripts.

Main Results:

• Over half of participants did not recognize the personalized nature of the PPL, perceiving it as general information.
• Recognition of personalization was primarily linked to medication overviews, personal details, and direct address (e.g., 'your dosage').
• Patients with adequate health literacy were better at recognizing personalized information compared to those with limited health literacy.

Conclusions:

• Patients generally do not expect medication information leaflets to be personalized.
• Pharmacy staff should actively point out personalized elements within leaflets during consultations.
• This guidance can enhance patient recognition and understanding, particularly benefiting individuals with limited health literacy and potentially improving correct medication use.