Beliefs About Medicines and Self-reported Adherence Among Patients with Chronic Illness: A Study in Palestine

BACKGROUND: Identifying factors associated with adherence is of great value in clinical practice. The objective of this study was to investigate medication adherence, beliefs about medicines held by people with chronic illness and whether beliefs influence medication adherence. METHODS: The study was carried out at primary health care clinic of the Palestinian Medical Military Services in Nablus, Palestine. The beliefs about medicines questionnaire was used to assess beliefs and Morisky medication adherence scale was used to assess adherence. RESULTS: A total of 187 patients were interviewed. Most participants (79.6%) agreed or strongly agreed that their medications were necessary for their current health. However, 58.2% of the participants were concerned about having to take their medicines on a regular basis and 57.8% were concerned about becoming dependent on their medicines. None of the demographic and clinical variables was significantly associated with medication adherence. However, multivariate analysis showed that patients who had higher beliefs about medication necessity had higher odds (1.107 [1.023-1.197]) of being adherent. On the other hand, patients who had higher concern beliefs had lower odds (0.908 [0.845-0.975]) of being adherent. CONCLUSIONS: Beliefs about medicines are a major contributing factor to medication adherence.