Factors Affecting Medication Adherence in Patients with Mechanical Heart Valves Taking Warfarin: The Role of Knowledge on Warfarin, Medication Belief, Depression, and Self-Efficacy

Non-adherence is highlighted as one of the main contributors to the occurrence of adverse events and negative clinical outcomes in patients treated with warfarin. The aim was to examine knowledge on warfarin, medication belief, depression, and self-efficacy as factors influencing medication adherence for anticoagulation control. This was a cross-sectional study. The participants in this study were patients who visited an outpatient clinic of cardiovascular surgery to administer anticoagulants after mechanical valve replacement surgery at a tertiary hospital in Seoul. Responses of 154 participants on questionnaires were analyzed from 10 September to 26 December 2020. Multiple regression analyses were performed to assess the factors influencing medication adherence among the patients with anticoagulation control. Factors influencing medication adherence were consuming warfarin for 3 to 5 years, awareness of target prothrombin time international normalized ratio, knowledge of warfarin, and depression. Medication beliefs and self-efficacy had no significant influence on medication adherence. The most important factors associated with medication adherence in patients with mechanical heart valves were knowledge about warfarin and depression. In the control of oral anticoagulants that require continuous management, education and providing accurate guidance is more important than personal preferences. Clinical nurses should facilitate educational programs tailored to the characteristics of the patient, including their purpose and method of taking warfarin, specific diets, their knowledge on warfarin’s interaction with other drugs, symptoms of adverse events, and self-management. In addition, healthcare providers should check whether warfarin therapy is being controlled by evaluating medication adherence and depression levels among patients.

Medication Belief and Adherence among Patients with Epilepsy

Background. Medication adherence and belief are crucial to achieving the desired goal of therapy in epileptic patients. However, there is a lack of study regarding medication adherence and belief in our setting. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate medication adherence and belief and associated factors among ambulatory patients with epilepsy. Method. A cross-sectional study was conducted on randomly selected epileptic patients at the neurologic clinic of Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Ethiopia. Medication adherence and belief were assessed using self-reported questionnaires which were developed based on the review of different literatures. Data were analyzed using binary logistic regression analysis. Result. We included a total of 292 patients. Almost two-thirds (65.4%) of the patients were nonadherent to their medications. The most common cause of nonadherence was forgetfulness (48.7%) followed by inability to get medicine (28.8) and safety concern (23.5%). The majority (78.4%) of the patients had high medication necessity belief while 44.1% had high concern belief about the potential adverse effect of their medications. Overall, 39.4% of the patients had a negative belief toward their medications. Comorbidity (AOR: 3.51, 95% CI: 1.20-10.31), seizure encounter within the last 3 months (AOR: 5.45, 95% CI: 2.48-12.00), low medication necessity belief (AOR: 3.38, 95% CI: 1.14-10.00), high medication concern belief (AOR: 4.23, 95% CI: 2.07-8.63), and negative medication belief (AOR: 4.17, 95% CI: 1.74-10.02) were predictors of medication nonadherence. Conclusion. Majority of the epileptic patients were nonadherent to their medications, and more than one-third of the patients had a negative medication belief. Low medication necessity belief, high medication concern belief, negative medication belief, comorbidity, and seizure encounter were predictors of medication nonadherence. Therefore, healthcare providers should design educational programs to enhance the patients’ believe about their medication in order to improve medication adherence and overall treatment outcome.

Patient and clinician medication belief systems – multidimensional, dynamic and experiential

In the current issue, we publish a paper focussing on medication beliefs in rheumatology - specifically if and to what extent, rheumatologists’ beliefs on medication use align with those of their patients.