A randomised comparison of the effect of three patient information leaflet models on older patients' treatment intentions.

One hundred and ninety-six patients over the age of 65 years suffering from joint pain were randomised to receive one of three patient information leaflets describing a hypothetical pain medication, a standard textual patient information leaflet (PIL) given out by a pharmaceutical chain, and two alternate-forms depicting information with icons and graphs. The results showed that patients randomised to the traditional PIL were less likely to consider taking the hypothetical medication.