"It's so hard taking pills when you don't know what they're for": a qualitative study of patients' medicine taking behaviours and conceptualisation of medicines in the context of rheumatoid arthritis

Patients with chronic illnesses are often required to take lifelong medication to alleviate symptoms and prevent disease progression. Many patients find it difficult to adhere to prescribed medication for various reasons, some of which may link to the way they conceptualise medicines and understand...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	BMC health services research Vol. 17; no. 1; p. 303
Main Authors:	Kobue, Boitshoko, Moch, Shirra, Watermeyer, Jennifer
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	England BioMed Central 26-04-2017 BMC
Subjects:	Acquired immune deficiency syndrome Adherence Adult Aged AIDS Antirheumatic Agents - therapeutic use Arthritis, Rheumatoid - drug therapy Chronic illness Chronic illnesses Clinical outcomes Communication Conceptualisation of medicine Data collection Female Health care Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice Health services HIV Human immunodeficiency virus Humans Institutional repositories Males Medical research Medication Adherence Medicine Medicine taking Middle Aged Pain Patient compliance Patients Poverty Prescription drugs Prescription Drugs - therapeutic use Qualitative Research Rheumatoid arthritis Rheumatology South Africa Steroids Tablets Traditional remedies Tuberculosis Young Adult South Africa Adherence Chronic illness Traditional remedies Medicine taking Rheumatoid arthritis Conceptualisation of medicine CAM
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	Patients with chronic illnesses are often required to take lifelong medication to alleviate symptoms and prevent disease progression. Many patients find it difficult to adhere to prescribed medication for various reasons, some of which may link to the way they conceptualise medicines and understand their illness and treatment. This study explores the medicine taking behaviours of patients presenting with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease. We focused particularly on patients' conceptualisation and understanding of medicines within this disease context, against a backdrop of scarce healthcare resources. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 female patients at a rheumatology clinic in South Africa, as well as a review of participants' medical records. We conducted a secondary analysis of the data using thematic analysis and framework analysis principles. Participants reported a range of medicine taking behaviours including self-medicating, adding complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) or traditional remedies, and sometimes acquiring prescribed medicines illegally. Participants provided insights into their understanding of what constitutes a medicine and what substances can be added to a prescribed regimen, which impacted on adherence. Importantly, the majority of participants demonstrated poor understanding of their illness, medications, regimens and dosage instructions. Medicine taking in the context of RA, within the studied demographic, is complex and appears strongly mediated by individual and contextual factors. Poor patient understanding, individual conceptualisation of medicines and medicine taking, and the availability of a range of additional medicines and remedies impact on adherence. Based on these findings, we make some suggestions for how healthcare providers can play a greater role in educating patients living with RA about medicines, CAM and traditional remedies, as well as medicine taking behaviours.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	1472-6963 1472-6963
DOI:	10.1186/s12913-017-2246-8