Influence of Jamaican Cultural and Religious Beliefs on Adherence to Pharmacotherapy for Non-Communicable Diseases: A Pharmacovigilance Perspective.

Robyn Brown,Caryl James Bateman,Maxine Gossell-Williams

doi:10.3389/fphar.2022.858947

Robyn Brown, Caryl James Bateman + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2022.858947

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Abstract

Worldwide, socio-cultural determinants have been shown to influence the beliefs of patients about their health and decision making for treatment. This is consistent with the evidence that cultural and religious beliefs affect illness conceptualization and behaviors of Jamaican patients living with non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes mellitus and hypertension. Despite these known socio-cultural influences, an acknowledgment of relevance of adherence to pharmacotherapy has been grossly understudied. Furthermore, while poor adherence to pharmacotherapy, especially in the management of patients living with non-communicable diseases is associated with adverse drug reactions; reporting of such information in the pharmacovigilance process is inadequate. We review previous studies on the cultural and religious beliefs within the Jamaican context that may contribute to poor adherence to pharmacotherapy, especially among those patients living with non-communicable diseases. We support the ongoing perspective that current pharmacovigilance processes need retooling with the inclusion of socio-cultural influences on adherence to pharmacotherapy.

Highlights

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) represent a significant portion of the global disease burden and are managed by lifelong pharmacotherapy
The goal of this paper is to explore how these socio-cultural factors impact adherence to pharmacotherapy for common NCDs in Jamaica, as well as to highlight their potential role in the pharmacovigilance process
Cultural and religious beliefs have been shown to negatively impact adherence to pharmacotherapy in patients living with NCDs; despite this, current pharmacovigilance processes fail to give these beliefs much consideration in understanding poor adherence to pharmacotherapy, a known contributor to adverse drug reaction occurrences

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) represent a significant portion of the global disease burden and are managed by lifelong pharmacotherapy. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), NCDs disproportionally affect developing countries and among these patients, adherence to pharmacotherapy rates is less than fifty percent (Sabaté, 2003). These challenges coupled with the limited resources to care for the health needs of its population increases the morbidity and mortality rates of NCDs in developing countries (Rose et al, 2016). Developing countries, such as Jamaica, encounter unique challenges at the various levels of the healthcare system (Figueroa et al, 1999; Wilks et al, 2001; Gossell-Williams et al, 2014; Hartzler et al, 2014; Mitchell-Fearon et al, 2015; Wilson et al, 2018). Arguably and more important in impacting public health is having a health-conscious populace that is motivated to leverage the health system to the betterment of their overall well-being

A Role for Cultural and Religious Beliefs in the Pharmacovigilance Process

CONCLUSION

Findings

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT