Association between Medication Literacy and Medication Adherence Among Older Persons with Multimorbidity
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Abstract
Medication adherence in older persons with multimorbidity is an important key for controlling adverse reactions and preventing the severity of the disease. This cross-sectional study aimed to study medication literacy, medication adherence, and the association between medication literacy and medication adherence in older persons with multimorbidity. The study participants were 88 persons aged 60 years or above, diagnosed by doctors with two or more chronic diseases, treated with medications and attending the health-promoting hospitals in Muang district, Chiang Mai province during March 2020. Instruments used for data collection included a demographic and illness data recording form, an interview form of medication literacy in older people with multimorbidity and an interview form of adherence to refills and medications use in older people with multimorbidity. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Spearman’s rank correlation.
The results revealed that older persons with multimorbidity have moderate levels of medication literacy and medication adherence. Medication literacy was positively correlated with medication adherence at a moderate level with statistically significance (r = 0.555, p–value < 0.001). Regarding the association in each dimension, it was found that the medication literacy was correlated with medication adherence by taking medication at a moderate level (r = 0.561, p–value < 0.001), but was correlated at a low level with adherence to refills and medications use with statistically significance (r = 0.280, p–value < 0.05).
The findings of this study provide basic information for health care professionals to encourage older persons with multimorbidity in better medication adherence behavior.
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References
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