Abstract
Medication adherence refers to compliance by patients in taking their prescribed medications as instructed by their doctors. Lack of treatment adherence has shown to be associated with negative attitude to pharmacotherapy. This study was set out to determine the influence of psychosocial factors on medication adherence among outpatient of Federal Neuro-psychiatric Hospital Yaba, Lagos. The study adopted survey design with a randomized sample of 277 participants selected purposively. The participant responded to Big Five Personality Inventory (BFI), Religiosity Oriented Test (ROT) and Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8). Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The result revealed a 44.8% and a 55.2% prevalence of high and low medication adherence respectively. Observed significant independent determinants of medication adherence among the outpatients include personality traits (R² =.034 p = .000) and religiosity (R² =.037 p = .001). Personality traits and religiosity jointly predicted medication adherence (R²=.024, p = .000). Respondents’ nature of illness (F (4,273) = 8.81, p =. 000) as well as level of education (F (5,271) = 5.964, p = .000) significantly influenced medication adherence. Findings concluded that personality traits, religiosity, nature of illness and educational level are psycho-social determinants of medication adherence among outpatients. Authors recommend psycho-education to enlightenment of patients on the importance of adherence to medication. Keywords: Personality traits, religiosity, medication adherence, psychiatric outpatients DOI : 10.7176/JHMN/69-08 Publication date: December 31 st 2019
Highlights
According to the World Health Organization (2003), adhering to treatment refers to “the degree to which the behaviour of a person corresponds to the instructions agreed with a medical professional in terms of taking medication, following the recommended diet and making changes in lifestyle”
Distribution by Religious affiliation revealed that 71.5 % (198) of the respondents were affiliated to Christianity, 19.9% (55) were affiliated to Islam while 8.7% (24) are traditional worshippers
Significant difference in nature of illness as well as difference in educational level on medication adherence exists among outpatients of Federal Neuro-psychiatric Hospital Yaba Lagos Nigeria
Summary
According to the World Health Organization (2003), adhering to treatment refers to “the degree to which the behaviour of a person corresponds to the instructions agreed with a medical professional in terms of taking medication, following the recommended diet and making changes in lifestyle”. Adherence can be either intentional or unintentional, including failing to initially fill or refill a prescription, discontinuing a medication before completing the course of therapy, taking more or less of a medication than prescribed and taking a dose at the wrong time. In unintentional non-adherence, patients fail to follow their doctor’s recommendations without making a conscious decision to do so, resulting from inadvertent forgetting and inability to follow treatment instructions due to lack of understanding or impaired physical abilities (Mukhtar et al, 2014)
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