Pires, Carla Maria Batista FerreiraCavaco, Afonso Miguel NevesCosta, Márcia Filipa Freire Dias da2017-03-072017-03-0720152016http://hdl.handle.net/10451/26968Trabalho Final de Mestrado Integrado, Ciências Farmacêuticas, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Farmácia, 2015Background: The brand names of medicines are invented names that must be chosen to avoid misinterpretations and assure memorization. Objectives: To evaluate how participants' memorization was influenced by names with varying orthographic or phonological (reading way) structures - canonical and non- canonical names i.e. names write and read (or not) in accordance to Portuguese, respectively. Methods: Two experiments of memorization, one based on the writing of names and another on the identification of names in a list. The validated software SuperLab 5.0 was used. Names were randomly selected from all the brand names of the national prescribing guide. Two groups: 94 patients and 30 pharmacy professionals. Socio-demographic data were collected. A health literacy and a mini-mental state test were administered. Results: Patients presented worse memorization results than professionals, in particular with non-canonical names. The older and lower educated participants, as well as those participants with inadequate health literacy presented worst results. Cognition problems were not detected. Discussion and conclusion: In order to benefit patients' memorization of names and therapeutic safety, it seems advisable to study ways of adapting brand names to a native form before their market approval. This may be especially relevant for geriatric populations, knowing they are mainly polymedicated.application/pdfporExperiments of memorizationMestrado Integrado - 2015Names of medicinesWord tasksWorking memorymaster thesis