Interventions to improve primary medication nonadherence: A scoping review.

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Patient Adherence Studies

Background:

• Primary medication nonadherence significantly impacts patient health outcomes.
• Existing interventions to improve adherence lack a comprehensive evidence review.
• This study addresses the need for understanding intervention effectiveness for primary nonadherence.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review and analyze recent literature on interventions aimed at improving primary medication nonadherence.
• To identify effective intervention strategies and their characteristics.

Main Methods:

• Conducted an extensive electronic literature search across multiple databases up to July 2025.
• Included English articles published since 2000 focusing on primary medication nonadherence interventions.
• Utilized the Health Pyramid Framework and TIDieR checklist for data extraction.

Main Results:

• Analyzed 40 studies, primarily from the US, across diverse healthcare settings.
• Interventions included patient counseling/education (57.5%), socioeconomics (27.5%), and clinical approaches (15%).
• Effective interventions involved pharmacist counseling and reduced patient out-of-pocket costs.

Conclusions:

• Intervention effectiveness for primary medication nonadherence varies widely across settings and populations.
• Face-to-face or hybrid counseling by pharmacists or nurses demonstrates significant effectiveness.
• Targeting socioeconomic factors, like cost, also shows promise in improving adherence.