TY - JOUR
T1 - How direct-to-consumer drug websites convey disease information
T2 - Analysis of stigma-reducing components
AU - Kang, Hannah
AU - An, Soontae
PY - 2013/12/1
Y1 - 2013/12/1
N2 - Given the growing trend of the Internet as a source of health information, this study evaluated whether direct-to-consumer prescription drug websites for stigmatized illnesses contained stigma-reducing components: onset controllability, offset controllability, and recategorization. The authors examined the contents of the first-level homepages and the second-level pages in 88 stand-alone websites for 15 different stigmatized conditions. Overall, about a third of the websites did not provide a direct link to detailed disease information on the homepage. On the homepages, three stigma-reducing components were rarely offered either through textual or visual cues. On the second level, in terms of textual cues, onset controllability and recategorization were the most prevalent, while offset controllability was relatively less frequent. There were no visual cues on the second level. Results point out the limited and insufficient stigma-reducing components of direct-to-consumer prescription drug websites.
AB - Given the growing trend of the Internet as a source of health information, this study evaluated whether direct-to-consumer prescription drug websites for stigmatized illnesses contained stigma-reducing components: onset controllability, offset controllability, and recategorization. The authors examined the contents of the first-level homepages and the second-level pages in 88 stand-alone websites for 15 different stigmatized conditions. Overall, about a third of the websites did not provide a direct link to detailed disease information on the homepage. On the homepages, three stigma-reducing components were rarely offered either through textual or visual cues. On the second level, in terms of textual cues, onset controllability and recategorization were the most prevalent, while offset controllability was relatively less frequent. There were no visual cues on the second level. Results point out the limited and insufficient stigma-reducing components of direct-to-consumer prescription drug websites.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84890568391&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/10810730.2013.798378
DO - 10.1080/10810730.2013.798378
M3 - Article
C2 - 24015752
AN - SCOPUS:84890568391
SN - 1081-0730
VL - 18
SP - 1477
EP - 1491
JO - Journal of Health Communication
JF - Journal of Health Communication
IS - 12
ER -