Research of beliefs about medicines by BMQ scale and related factors in hypertensive patients

Abstract

Introduction: Hypertension is a chronic disease that requires regular monitoring and treatment. Medication adherence and medication trust assessment play an important role in understanding the underlying causes and developing solutions to improve treatment outcomes for patients. Objective: To assess medication trust in hypertensive patients and to explore the factors associated with medication trust according to the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ) scale. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 607 outpatients with hypertension who visited and received treatment at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Hue Hospital from July to November 2022. Results: The mean age of patients was 69.7 ±11 years. The proportion of patients who agreed that taking medication is necessary was 99%. Only 3.1% of patients believed that doctors placed too much trust in medication, and about 5.1% believed that medication was harmful. About 62.8% of patients did not fully understand the medications they were taking. Conclusions: We found that medication trust is closely associated with demographic characteristics, disease-related characteristics, knowledge about hypertension, the provision of health information and treatment medications. Key words: beliefs about Medication, hypertension, BMQ scale