MEDICATION INSTRUCTION DESIGN - YOUNGER AND OLDER ADULT SCHEMAS FOR TAKING MEDICATION

We examined whether older and younger adults share a schema for taking medication and whether instructions are better recalled when they are organized to match this schema. Experiment 1 examined age differences in schema organization. Participants sorted medication items (e.g., p urpose, dose, possible side effects) according to similarity and then ordered the items to create a preferred instruction set. Cluster analy sis of the sort and order data showed that younger and older adults sh are a schema for taking medication. Secondary regression analyses foun d that verbal ability (i.e., vocabulary scores) predicted individual d ifferences in schema organization. In Experiment 2 participants recall ed instructions that were either compatible with this schema in terms of grouping and order of items or were presented in nonpreferred order s. Younger participants remembered more information than did older par ticipants, but both age groups better remembered and preferred the mor e schema-compatible instructions. Secondary analyses showed that recal l was also positively related to verbal ability. Along with our earlie r research, this study suggests that older and younger adults possess a schema for taking medication and that instructions that are compatib le with this schema provide an environmental support that improves mem ory for medication information.