Adherence, behaviour change and visualisation: A qualitative study of the experience of taking obesity medication

Objective: To examine patients’ experiences of taking orlistat and as a means to explore adherence and behaviour change. Method: Qualitative interviews with twelve participants who had taken orlistat in the past two years. Results: Their experiences were described in terms of beliefs about the causes of their obesity, their motivations for taking orlistat and the highly visual side effects. These themes have implications for understanding adherence and behaviour change. For some, the side effects led to non adherence and no behaviour change. These individuals seemed to be motivated by the routine effects of being overweight such as lowered self esteem. In contrast, those who were motivated by a life crisis seemed to tolerate the side effects of the drug leading to adherence. In turn, these highly visual side effects enabled them to make an explicit link between food consumed and weight creating a shift in their beliefs about the causes of obesity making behaviour change more likely. Conclusion: Orlistat use illustrates how treatment and illness beliefs interact to create both adherence and behaviour change particularly in the context of a life crisis and when symptoms can be visualised.