Correction: Medication Adherence Reminder System for Virtual Home Assistants: Mixed Methods Evaluation Study (Preprint)

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Understanding Medication Adherence in Patients with Limited English Proficiency

Introduction. Approximately 41.6% of the US population who speak a language other than English (20% over all) and have limited English proficiency (LEP) status.1 Health outcomes for patients with LEP status or who are language discordant (speak a different language than their clinicians) have been studied in several settings, including the hospital and outpatient, with results widely demonstrating that these patients have worse outcomes when a professional interpreter is not used consistently. 2,3 The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of preferred language and language discordance on medication adherence. Methods. Data were collected via review of pharmacy-acquired medication profiles for three primary language cohorts: Nepali, Spanish, and English. Total Days of Adherence, Adherence Ratio, and Maximum Days Non-adherent were calculated and compared between language groups. We examined these statistics for regular and long-acting insulin, metformin and ACE inhibitors, testing for differences between language groups and those who experienced greater vs less than the median value for language concordant clinical encounters. Results. The most adherent group over all (highest adherence-ratio) were the Nepali-speaking, but the results showed high variability across outcomes and medications. Conclusions. After adjustment and stratification for greater vs lesser language concordant patient visit experience, we found that language-spoken plays an important role in the clinical encounter, and that LEP patients could have improved outcomes in their adherence to medications by having providers who speak their language or use an interpreter.

Tenofovir Adherence in the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of Hepatitis B in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: A Qualitative Study Applying the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills Model

Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) remains a leading infectious cause of death worldwide, and is highly prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programs for HBV are critical to reaching elimination targets and utilizing existing HIV testing and treatment infrastructure. Building on a feasibility study to introduce tenofovir disoproxil fumarate antiviral therapy to pregnant women with high-risk HBV in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), we examine the social and psychological facilitators of medication adherence of women who participated in this HBV PMTCT program.Methods: This study utilizes a qualitative exploratory approach involving women in Kinshasa, DRC who were identified as high-risk HBV during pregnancy and completed the pilot tenofovir antiviral program. Six participants were identified and completed in-depth, open-ended phone interviews. This study adopts a modified Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills model (IMB+) to identify emerging themes related to tenofovir adherence.Results: A strong trust in healthcare workers, family support, and improved awareness of the disease and treatment options through enrollment in the PMTCT program facilitated tenofovir adherence. Barriers to medication adherence included social stigma and low healthcare literacy specific to HBV.Conclusions: Our study highlights the feasibility of medication adherence in HBV PMTCT programs in a low-resource setting and the importance of incorporating initiatives that address hepatitis B stigma and other social barriers. These findings are relevant to future HBV PMTCT scale-up, which is needed in the DRC and in similar African contexts with high HBV prevalence. Trial registration: The parent study was registered with clinicaltrials.gov under identifier NCT03567382. Date of registration: 25/06/2018

Feel to Heal: Negative Emotion Differentiation Promotes Medication Adherence in Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a debilitating chronic autoimmune disease of the central nervous system that results in lower quality of life. Medication adherence is important for reducing relapse, disease progression, and MS-related symptoms, particularly during the early stages of MS. However, adherence may be impacted by negative emotional states. Therefore, it is important to identify protective factors. Past research suggests that the ability to discriminate between negative emotional states, also known as negative emotion differentiation (NED), may be protective against enactment of maladaptive risk-related behaviors. However, less is known as to how NED may promote adaptive health behaviors such as medication adherence. Utilizing weekly diaries, we investigated whether NED moderates the association between negative affect and medication adherence rates across 58 weeks among patients (n = 27) newly diagnosed with MS (following McDonald criteria). Results revealed that NED significantly moderated the relationship between negative affect and medication adherence. Specifically, greater negative affect was associated with lower adherence only for individuals reporting low NED. However, this link disappeared for those reporting moderate to high NED. Building upon past research, our findings suggest that NED may promote adaptive health behaviors and have important clinical implications for the treatment and management of chronic illness.

Effects of Pharmacy Care Program on medication adherence in outpatients with stable coronary artery disease: a randomized controlled study

Aim. To assess the effects of the Pharmacy Care Program on medication adherence in outpatients with stable coronary artery disease (SCAD).Material and methods. An open randomized controlled study was conducted in primary care clinic over the period of 2019-2020. All subjects (n=126) were randomized at visit 1 into the multifaceted intervention group (n=63) or control group (n=63) and invited 12 months after to visit 2. Patients of intervention group were included into the Pharmacy Care Program, which consisted of the following components: pharmacist-led counseling, provision of education materials and 7-day pillbox, weekly SMS-reminders. Medication adherence was measured initially and at the end of the study period by means of eight-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8) and Self-Efficacy for Appropriate Medication Use Scale (SEAMS).Results. The implementation of the Pharmacy Care Program improved medication adherence in SCAD outpatients with MMAS-8 median score of 7,0-8,0 (p<0,001) and SEAMS median score of 35,0-36,0 (p=0,017). In the control group, no changes (p=0,123) in MMAS-8 score were revealed, while SEAMS score decreased from 35,0 down to 34,5 (p=0,003). The reduction in systolic blood pressure (p=0,049) and risk of urgent hospital admission (OR=0,28; 95% CI, 0,08-0,99; p=0,041) was registered in the intervention group in contrast to the control group over the 12-month period.Conclusion. The multicomponent intervention within the Pharmacy Care Program contributed to an increase in the adherence to pharmacotherapy of outpatients with stable CAD.

Factors influencing medication adherence among patients with severe mental disorders from the perspective of mental health professionals

Background Medication adherence is a common issue influenced by various factors among patients with severe mental disorders worldwide. However, most literature to date has been primarily quantitative and has focused on medication adherence issue from the perspective of patients or their caregivers. Moreover, research focused on medication adherence issue in China is scarce. Present study aims to explore the influential factors of medication adherence among patients with severe mental disorders form the perspective of mental health professionals in Hunan Province, China. Methods A qualitative study was performed in Hunan Province, China with 31 mental health professionals recruited from October to November 2017. And semi-structured interviews or focus group interviews were conducted along with audio recordings of all interviews. Interview transcripts were then coded and analyzed in Nvivo software with standard qualitative approaches. Results Three major themes influencing medication adherence among patients with severe mental disorders were identified as: (1) attitudes towards mental disorder/treatment; (2) inadequate aftercare; (3) resource shortages. Conclusions This qualitative study identified the factors influencing medication adherence among patients with severe mental disorders in China. As a locally driven research study, it provides practical advice on medication adherence promotion for mental health workers and suggests culturally tailored models that improve the management of patients with severe mental disorders in order to reduce economic burden on individual and societal level.

The effectiveness of an intervention designed based on health action process approach on diet and medication adherence among patients with type 2 diabetes: a randomized controlled trial

Background Diabetes is a major cause of worldwide morbidity and mortality. Diet and medication non-adherence are common among individuals with diabetes, making glycemic control difficult to attain. This study aimed to evaluate an intervention designed based on Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) to improve adherence to diet and medication among patients with type 2 diabetes in Tehran, Iran. Methods The study was a randomized controlled trial. A total of 248 patients with type 2 diabetes who had low diet and medication adherence were randomly allocated into two intervention (n = 124) and control (n = 124) groups. Intervention group received educational intervention during three months. HAPA constructs, diet and medication adherence, and Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels were assessed at baseline, one month and six months after the intervention. Mixed Model Analysis was used to compare between and within group changes in the outcomes. Results There was a statistically significant improvement in HbA1c levels after six months (7.77 ± 1.36% vs. 8.07 ± 1.52%, 95% CI, p < 0.001). Diet and medication adherence, intention, task self-efficacy, coping self-efficacy, recovery self-efficacy, action and coping planning, barriers, benefits and perceived social support were significantly improved one month and six months after the intervention (p < 0.001). Conclusion Our intervention designed based on health action process approach led to improvements in diet and medication adherence, and HbA1c among the patients within one and six months. Trial registration: IRCT, IRCT20151208025431N4. Registered 10 March 2018, https://fa.irct.ir

Impact of a Collaborative Pharmaceutical Care Service for Patients With Parkinson’s Disease

Objective: To identify the impact of a collaborative pharmaceutical care service (CPCS) on medication safety and establish the impact of the CPCS on patient reported outcomes for Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients.Methods: Initially, PD outpatients receiving the CPCS between March 2017 and March 2019 were compared with PD patients receiving standard of care to identify differences in management. Pharmacist interventions data were coded and patients with PD receiving the CPCS were compared with those receiving standard of care to determine differences in medicines prescribed and dosage associated with these. Following this, data of patients receiving CPCS at baseline and 3-months follow-up were collected using a questionnaire consisting of validated measures of two patient-reported outcomes [adherence and quality of life (QoL)]. Mean scores for continuous variables were calculated, with descriptive analysis of categorical variables consisting of frequency counts and percentages. Change in adherence score before and after CPCS was investigated using a Wilcoxon sign rank sum test, spearman correlation analysis was used to correlate the changes in QoL before and after CPCS with the number of interventions, and p &lt; 0.05 indicates that the difference is statistically significant.Results: A total of 331 PD outpatients received CPCS over 490 outpatient visits with an average age of 71.83 (±12.54). Five hundred and forty-five drug related problems were recorded as pharmacist interventions, of which most involved change to dosage (n = 226, 41.47%), adverse drug reactions (n = 135, 24.77%), and change in a medication (n = 102, 18.72%). Compared with those receiving standard of care, patients receiving CPCS were significantly less likely to have been prescribed pramipexole (18.52 versus 23.77%, p &lt; 0.001) and more likely to have been prescribed amantadine (5.40 versus 3.70%, p = 0.02) and selegiline (17.36 versus 11.64%, p &lt; 0.001). Lower dosages of levodopa/benserazide (0.51 ± 0.31 g versus 0.84 ± 0.37 g, p &lt; 0.001), levodopa/carbidopa (0.33 ± 0.23 g versus 0.66 ± 0.47 g, p &lt; 0.001), pramipexole (1.14 ± 1.63 mg versus 1.27 ± 0.69 mg, p = 0.01), and entacapone (130.00 ± 79.76 mg versus 173.09 ± 97.86 mg, p &lt; 0.001) were also recorded. At baseline 119 PD outpatients with an average age of 69.98 (±9.90) were recruited for the longitudinal study. At 3-month follow-up, participants reported improvement in bodily pain subscale (baseline versus 3-months follow-up, 30.04 ± 22.21 versus 23.01 ± 20.98, p = 0.037) and medication adherence (6.19 ± 1.50 versus 6.72 ± 1.73, p = 0.014). Frequency of CPCS use was related to activity of daily living subscale (p = 0.047), the bodily pain subscale (p = 0.026), and medication adherence (p = 0.011). Total score of PDQ-39 was associated with patient education (p = 0.005) and usage and dosage combined with patient education (p = 0.006), while medication adherence score was associated with usage and dosage (p = 0.005).Conclusion: The CPCS was effective in resolving drug-related problems and in improving patients’ medication regimens, medication adherence, and QoL through patient education and dosage adjustments. This is the first step in the development and feasibility testing of pharmacy services for PD patients in China.