A spoonful of sugar: Understanding the over-the-counter medication needs and practices of older adults

Abstract

Understanding the needs of various stakeholders throughout the design process is key for creating consumer health applications that are usable, effective, and useful for the people that use them. This paper discusses the findings of an exploratory study aimed at understanding the current practices, information needs, and challenges of older adults (65 years and older) when selecting over-the-counter (OTC) medication. The context of this study lies in understanding older adults with the purpose of identifying opportunities for a consumer health application to assist them with selecting an appropriate OTC medication based on their health history. This research contributes to the understanding of the current practices of older adults as related to OTC medication selection. In addition, this paper provides a discussion of opportunities for future applications to help facilitate this task for older adults.