The relationship between partner information-seeking, information-sharing, and patient medication adherence

Area of Science:

• Rheumatology
• Health Psychology
• Patient Adherence Studies

Background:

• Patient medication adherence is crucial for managing chronic conditions like arthritis.
• The role of patient partners in medication management and adherence is an under-explored area.
• Understanding information-seeking behaviors of partners can offer insights into patient support systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To characterize the medication information-seeking behaviors of partners of arthritis patients.
• To determine if partners' information-seeking and information-sharing correlate with patient medication adherence.

Main Methods:

• A dyadic study involving 87 arthritis patient-partner pairs.
• Partners completed online questionnaires on information sources, trust, and sharing.
• Patients reported their medication adherence levels.

Main Results:

• Partners generally sought minimal information about patient medications.
• Information-seeking increased with medication regimen complexity (r = 0.33, p = 0.002).
• Nearly all partners (∼98%) shared information; older partners shared more (r = 0.25, p = 0.03).
• Neither partner information-seeking (r = 0.21, p = 0.06) nor sharing (r = 0.12, p = 0.31) significantly predicted patient adherence.

Conclusions:

• Partners of arthritis patients are not active information seekers regarding medications but are significant information sharers.
• Current levels of partner information-seeking and sharing do not appear to influence patient medication adherence.
• Involving partners in consultations could enhance their understanding and facilitate informed discussions about medications.