Adherence to Advice and Treatment

5 important questions on Adherence to Advice and Treatment

Definition of adherence/ (therapie) trouw

- The extent to which a patient's behaviour matches agreed recommendations from their health professional

- most adherence research is focused on mediation adherence (taking medication as prescribed)
- growing awareness of lifestyle factors and adherence to non-pharmaceutical treatments advice (such as recommendations regarding physical activity and diet modification)

Perceptions: Necessity Concerns Framework (NCF)

'How much do I need this treatment' (necessity beliefs) comparing with 'What are the side effects of this treatment' (concerns).

Research into perceptions of medicines identified two categories of medication beliefs: general beliefs about medicines as a class of treatment and specific beliefs about a particular prescribed medication. Specific beliefs were the more salient in relation to adherence.

(Medication) Necessity beliefs (NCF)

- Common-sense origins of necessity beliefs
- necessity beliefs are influenced by perceptions of the conditin being treated, as well as by symptom expectations and experiences
- Patients' common sense perceptions of illness influence their beliefs about necessity of medication: 'no symptoms = no problems'
- while most treatments are silent and long term:
* bloeddruk verlagende medicatie
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(Medication) concerns (NCF)

- General or 'background' beliefs about medicines influence the way in which people evaluate specific medications
- medicines are often seen as intrinsically harmful

Practicalities (necessities concerns framework)

- poor recall
- poor comprehension of instructions
- fincancial costs of treatment
- forgetting to take medications (NB: necessity beliefs! --> interventions using reminder systems have modest effect
* perhaps becasue they fail to adress perceptual barriers

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