Beliefs about medicines and self-reported adherence among pharmacy clients.

Below is an abstract I can across this morning. Unfortunately I am traveling to the memorial service for the great American poet, William Meredith, at my alma mater and do not have the time to read or research everything today. Just wanted to give you a clip of some interesting work - although (again) it is self-reported, the numbers are more in line with the average.

Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Göteborg University, Box 453, SE-405 30 Göteborg, Sweden.
Beliefs about medicines and self-reported adherence among pharmacy clients.

OBJECTIVES: To analyse any association between general beliefs about medicines and self-reported adherence among pharmacy clients. Further, to examine general beliefs about medicines by background variables.

METHODS: The data were collected by questionnaires including the general section of the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ), the self-reporting Medication Adherence Report Scale (MARS) and the following background variables: gender, age, education, country of birth and medicine use. The General BMQ measures beliefs about medicines as something harmful (General-Harm), beneficial (General-Benefit) and beliefs about how doctors prescribe medicines (General-Overuse).

RESULTS: Of the 324 participating pharmacy clients, 54% were considered non-adherent. An association was found between General-Harm and adherence. Adherent behaviour and higher level of education were associated respectively with more beneficial and less harmful beliefs about medicines. Those born in the Nordic countries regarded medicines as more beneficial. Current users of herbal medicines and non-users of medicines were more likely to believe that doctors overprescribed medicines.

CONCLUSIONS: General-Harm was associated with adherence to medication among Swedish pharmacy clients. Country of birth, education and medicine use influenced beliefs about medicines.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Increased awareness of the patient's beliefs about medicines is needed among healthcare providers. We should encourage patients to express their views about medicines in order to optimize and personalize the information process. This can stimulate concordance and adherence to medication.