OBJECTIVE This exploratory study examined the role that illness representations and personality play in the various adherence behaviors of adolescents diagnosed with essential hypertension. METHODS The participants were 97 hypertensive adolescents. They completed self-report questionnaires pertaining to (1) demographic and medical data, (2) adherence, (3) illness representations, and (4) pers...

Administering drugs as fixed-dose combinations (FDCs) versus the same active drugs administered as separate pills is assumed to enhance treatment adherence. We synthesized evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about the effect of FDCs versus separate pills on adherence. We searched PubMed for RCTs comparing a FDC with the same active drugs administered as separate pills, including a...

BACKGROUND Approximately 20% to 50% of patients are not adherent to medical therapy. This review was performed to summarize, categorize, and estimate the effect size (ES) of interventions to improve medication adherence in chronic medical conditions. METHODS Randomized controlled trials published from January 1967 to September 2004 were eligible if they described 1 or more unconfounded interv...

BACKGROUND After splenectomy, patients are at increased risk of sepsis with considerable mortality. This risk can be reduced by taking preventive measures, such as prescribing immunizations and antibiotic prophylaxis. Studies from various countries show that a substantial percentage of patients are not managed adequately. The aim of the present study was to investigate the quality of care in th...

Background: Kidney failure patients with low health literacy are at increased risk for poor self-care and negative health outcome. Objectives: This study aimed to examine the role of health literacy in patient’s knowledge about kidney disease and medical care adherence and also to test the mediating role of kidney knowledge on the relationship between health literacy and medical adherence among...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effectiveness of electronic monitoring and feedback to improve adherence in children taking daily asthma controller medications. METHOD Five patients with asthma and considered nonadherent participated. Inhalers were electronically monitored with the MDILogII(TM) device, and feedback was given by medical staff. Using a nonconcurrent multiple-baseline design, patients...

Patient adherence to medication continues to be a cause of concern within the medical profession. This review examines the various methods of quantifying the level of patient adherence, progress in predicting causes of non-adherence, and the implications for its management. Contributions from the medical, health belief, and psychosocial models are discussed in order to highlight how the concept...

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is now as much a disease of adults as of children and adolescents. An important focus of recent research has been the impact of the complex, expensive, and time consuming routine of self-care and medical treatment that is required by adults with CF to maintain health. A growing concern for medical and allied health teams is the issue of patient adherence to prescribed healt...

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is now as much a disease of adults as of children and adolescents. An important focus of recent research has been the impact of the complex, expensive, and time consuming routine of self-care and medical treatment that is required by adults with CF to maintain health. A growing concern for medical and allied health teams is the issue of patient adherence to prescribed healt...

OBJECTIVE Persons with serious mental illness (SMI) may benefit from collocation of medical and mental health healthcare professionals and services in attending to their chronic comorbid medical conditions. We evaluated and compared glucose control and diabetes medication adherence among patients with SMI who received collocated care to those not receiving collocated care (which we call usual c...