Beliefs about medication and their association with adherence in Chinese patients with non-dialysis chronic kidney disease stages 3–5

There is a scarcity of research into the impact of medication beliefs on adherence in patients with non-dialysis chronic kidney disease (CKD). This study is to determine the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ)-Specific among patients with non-dialysis CKD stages 3–5, and to assess the beliefs of CKD patients and their association with medication adherence. A cross-sectional study was conducted in CKD patients who recruited at the nephrology clinics of Xi’an Central Hospital, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China. The original BMQ-Specific was translated into Chinese. The internal consistency and test–retest reliability of the Chinese version of the BMQ-Specific scale were assessed, while exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were also applied to determine its reliability and validity. The Kruskal–Wallis test and multiple ordered logistic regression were performed to identify the relationship between beliefs about and adherence to medication among CKD patients. This study recruited 248 patients. Cronbach's α values of the BMQ-Specific necessity and concern subscales were 0.826 and 0.820, respectively, with intraclass correlation coefficients of 0.784 and 0.732. Factor analysis showed that BMQ-Specific provided a good fit to the two-factor model. The adherence of patients was positively correlated with perceived necessity (r = 0.264, P < .001) and negatively correlated with concern (r = –0.294, P < .001). Medication adherence was significantly higher for the accepting group (high necessity and low concern scores) than for the ambivalent group (high necessity and concern scores; β = –0.880, 95% confidence interval [CI] = –1.475 to –0.285), skeptical group (low necessity and high concern scores; β = –2.620, 95% CI = –4.209 to –1.031) and indifferent group (low necessity and concern scores; β = –0.918, 95% CI = –1.724 to –0.112). The Chinese version of BMQ-Specific exhibited satisfactory reliability and validity for use in patients with non-dialysis CKD stages 3–5 and has been demonstrated to be a reliable screening tool for clinicians to use to predict and identify the non-adherence behaviors of patients.