Patient education has been shown to be associated with improved health outcomes, particularly in chronic health conditions like diabetes (Ellis et al., 2004). While Information prescription and information therapy are covered under the broader concept of health education, the awareness about the differences in these concepts among practicing physicians is low. Information prescription is provision of specific, evidence-based information to patients by healthcare providers to assist them manage their health. Information therapy, on the other hand, is provision of a specific scientific literature to patients to empower them to make treatment related decisions. Though the definitions of these concepts seem to differ marginally, there is a major difference between their applications. In their systematic review, Gavgani and Shokraneh present the existing body of evidence regarding information therapy and information prescription and emphasize the need for further research in this area. The review identified232 relevant abstracts and after review of full text found 18 articles that evaluated the application of information prescription, information Rx and Information therapy. Only six of the 18 studies were randomized control trials and all of them were performed in the United States. The other 12 studies were observational studies primarily evaluating the perceptions and attitudes towards information prescription and information therapy.
The early research efforts in this area are focused on understanding the patient satisfaction. However, there are no trials evaluating the impact of these interventions on the subsequent health outcomes on the patients. Almost half the studies involved measures determining providers’ attitudes towards Information prescription.