Non-adherence to treatment of chronic wounds: patient versus professional perspectives

The reasons for the non-adherence to treatment for wound healing are complex and fall into unintentional and intentional categories. This study explored intentional and unintentional non-adherence to treatment from patient/carer and health care professional perspectives. Patients with wounds receiving ALLEVYN Life dressings (n = 20) and patients not receiving ALLEVYN Life dressings who were deemed to be non-adherent to treatment regimes (n = 6) took part in semi-structured interviews to explore their experiences of living with a wound, treatment and intentional and unintentional non-adherence. Three focus groups of health care professionals explored issues surrounding non-adherence to treatment regimes. Groups included nurses and doctors (n = 25). We found that relationships between participants and health care professionals varied in character across the groups. All participants expressed reasons for both intentional and unintentional adherence. Many reasons for intentional non-adherence are related to comfort and working the regime around patients' lives. Health care professionals considered the most common form of non-adherence to be unintentional. However, patients describe the most common form of non-adherence as being intentional. The relationship between patients and health care professionals varied in character between the groups. Discrepancies between professional and patient perspectives need to be reconciled and addressed to improve adherence to treatment regimes.