Medication Adherence Quantitative Studies

Quantitative Studies on Medication Adherence
Maleah Perdue
University of South Alabama
Introduction
Medication adherence is a significant issue in the health systems of today. Low medication adherence can unnecessarily increase cost of health care and the amount of admissions. According to Conn et al., inadequate medication adherence may account for up to 10% of older adult hospital admissions and may cause up to $100 billion in annual health care cost (2009). Increased medication adherence is likely linked to improved health outcomes while poor medication adherence can lead to exacerbations of disease or even fatality.
Area of Interest
The area of interest is medication adherence in adults that are living in the community. Specifically,
The search was further narrowed down to articles with full text and published between the year 2009 and 2014. It was chosen because this meta-analysis of quantitative studies specifically looked at different studies that tested specific interventions and their effectiveness at improving medication adherence.
The article, Everyday Memory Strategies for the Older Adult, was found on the PubMed Database using the search term ‘medication adherence’. The search was further narrowed down to articles with full text and published between the year 2009 and 2014. It was chosen because it specifically looked at patients reporting the methods they use to increase medication adherence and the perceived effectiveness. These results could be used to propose further research on the specific methods reported in the
The method used to determine this information is where they vary greatly. The method used to retrieve information in the single study was a mailed out survey. The survey was mailed out to 2,000 households with the goal to receive at least 200 complete responses that fell into the 60-80 year old range. The researchers chose 60 as the minimum age based on the World Health Organization’s definition for older adult. The addresses were chosen based on magazine subscriptions, voter registration information, and other sources that would predict that someone at the address met the age criteria. Reminder postcards were sent 2 weeks after the surveys to help encourage responses. The residents were also mailed a $10 gift card to a local restaurant with the survey but without the stipulation of having to submit the completed survey to have the gift card. Of the 2,000 surveys sent out by Boron et al., 354 respondents mailed back completed surveys and were within the age range (2013). The survey asked questions about demographics, backgrounds, health, and medication usage, strategies used to remember to take medications, medication behaviors, and