Related Experiment Videos
Selection of a validated scale for measuring medication adherence
Stacey M Lavsa1, Ashley Holzworth, Nicole T Ansani
1Department of Pharmacy and Therapeutics, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), Pittsburgh, PA 15215, USA.
Journal of the American Pharmacists Association : Japha
|January 21, 2011
Summary
No single medication adherence scale is perfect. The Medication Adherence Questionnaire (MAQ) is a practical choice for assessing patient behaviors at the point of care due to its brevity and broad applicability.
Area of Science:
- Pharmacology
- Health Services Research
- Psychometrics
Background:
- Assessing patient medication adherence is crucial for effective treatment.
- Numerous surveys and scales exist to measure medication adherence behaviors.
- Evaluating these tools for point-of-care application is essential.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review and compare literature on medication adherence surveys/scales.
- To identify scales suitable for gauging patient behaviors at the point of care.
- To evaluate scales based on validation, length, and psychometric properties.
Main Methods:
- Literature search of PubMed and Ovid (1950-2009) using terms related to medication adherence and self-report.
- Selection of English-language articles featuring adherence scales validated in multiple diseases with ≤30 questions.
- Review of five identified scales based on characteristics like length, reliability, and disease-specific validation.
Main Results:
- Five medication adherence scales were identified and evaluated.
- The Medication Adherence Questionnaire (MAQ) is the shortest and easiest to score, identifying adherence barriers.
- Other scales like SEAMS and BMQ assess self-efficacy but are harder to score; Hill-Bone and MARS have limited generalizability.
Conclusions:
- No definitive gold-standard medication adherence scale is available.
- MAQ offers the best adaptability for point-of-care use across diverse populations.
- SEAMS, BMQ, and Hill-Bone are useful for assessing self-efficacy in specific settings, while MARS is for psychiatric populations.
Related Concept Videos
01:28Drug Therapy
The advent of drug therapy has profoundly shaped modern mental health care, providing targeted treatments for a range of psychological disorders. Psychotherapeutic drugs, classified into antianxiety, antidepressant, and antipsychotic medications, address symptoms across anxiety disorders, mood disorders, and schizophrenia. While these medications have transformed patient outcomes, they require careful management due to their potential side effects and limitations.
Antianxiety Medications
Antianxiety Medications
01:19Dosage Interval and Administration Route: Determination Methods
A medication’s effectiveness largely depends on its appropriate dosage and the route of administration. Dosage ensures that a sufficient drug concentration is maintained in the bloodstream to elicit the desired therapeutic effect without causing toxicity. The route of administration affects the drug's bioavailability, rate of absorption, and onset of action, which are crucial for achieving optimal therapeutic outcomes. Drug dosage calculations are critical to tailoring therapy to individual...
01:20Measurement of Bioavailability: Pharmacodynamic Methods
Pharmacodynamic methods provide insights into a drug's effects on physiological processes over time and play a crucial role in understanding bioavailability and therapeutic efficacy. These methods can be broadly classified into acute pharmacological and therapeutic response approaches, each with distinct mechanisms and applications.The acute pharmacological response method directly correlates a drug's physiological effects, such as ECG or pupil diameter changes, to its time course in the body.
01:28Dosage Regimens: Designs and Approaches
Designing a dosage regimen, which refers to the manner of drug administration, is a complex process involving the selection of drug dose, route, and frequency. This process is underpinned by pharmacokinetic parameters derived from tests and population averages. These parameters are then tailored to patient-specific variables such as diagnosis, demographics, and allergy status. Once therapy commences, therapeutic response monitoring is critical and achieved through clinical and physical...
01:15Bioavailability Study Design: Healthy Subjects Versus Patients
Bioavailability studies are essential for evaluating a drug's therapeutic efficacy and understanding its absorption patterns under various physiological conditions. Conducting such studies on target patient populations provides more relevant data by simulating real-world disease states. However, practical challenges often necessitate the use of young, healthy adult volunteers as study subjects.Patients may exhibit altered drug absorption patterns due to the effects of the disease itself,...
01:26Therapeutic Drug Monitoring: Drug Analysis Methods
Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) is a clinical practice that measures specific drug levels in a patient's blood or body tissues to tailor drug therapy effectively. This monitoring is critical for managing drugs with narrow therapeutic indices like digoxin and phenytoin, ensuring they are both safe and effective. For instance, monitoring theophylline levels in asthma patients involves precision and sensitivity to adjust doses according to individual responses to therapy, ensuring efficacy and...