Patient activation and medication adherence in adults

Area of Science:

• Health behavior research
• Patient self-management
• Chronic disease management

Background:

• Conflicting results exist regarding the relationship between medication adherence and patient activation.
• Multiple factors may influence this relationship, necessitating further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the association between patient activation and medication adherence in adults with chronic conditions and low health literacy (HL).
• To determine if age, education, gender, and race are associated with patient activation.

Main Methods:

• Utilized self-report questionnaires for chronic disease self-management and medication adherence (Gonzalez-Lu adherence questionnaire).
• Patient activation was measured using Hibbard's Patient Activation Measure (PAM).
• Employed block regressions to analyze demographic variables, education, and patient activation in relation to adherence.

Main Results:

• Included 301 participants (mean age 58, 53% female) with an average of 6.6 chronic conditions.
• Older age was significantly associated with greater medication adherence.
• Patient Activation Measure (PAM) significantly predicted better adherence (P < 0.001), increasing R squared by 0.05 (moderate effect size).

Conclusions:

• Patient activation is a significant predictor of medication adherence in individuals with low health literacy.
• Evaluating patient activation at baseline can help identify patients likely to be more medication adherent.