Applicability of pharmaceutical pictograms – The first study in an Islamic culture

Objectives: pharmaceutical pictograms should be familiar to the culture of target communities. Poorly- designed pictograms may cause conceptual errors. The importance of this issue in Iran, as a sample of.Islamic countries is hundredfold Methods: In this cross-sectional and field study, first validity of a total number of 21 pictograms in accordance with Iranian culture was considered. then the influence of the validated pictograms on recalland adherence of medical instructions among the patients was investigated. Also patients’ preferences .for presence or absence of pictograms were polled Results: Accordingly, 9 out of the 21 pictograms were comprehensible. Age and education level werethe only variable affect significantly on perception of pictograms. About three-quarters of the participants preferred this new way of instruction and declared that the use of pictogram had a positive effecton the recall of their medical instructions and more than two-thirds acknowledged the effectiveness of .the pictograms on their adherenceConclusion: pharmaceutical pictograms cannot be used in Iranian population without comprehensibility tests. There is almost unanimity among Iranian people about positive preference and applicability ofpictograms in promoting recall and adherence of medication orders. This results can help health politi- .cians to use this validated symbols in Iranian pharmaceutical industries

Keywords:

Comprehensibility , Iran , Adherence , Preference , Recall