Investigation into patients’ lived experiences of medication adherence
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A phenomenological investigation into patients’ lived experiences of medication adherence
IRAS ID
145439
Contact name
Adam Pattison Rathbone
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Durham
Research summary
Medication only has a chance to work if patients take it and research has shown that between 30-70% of medication is not taken as prescribed. Many patients struggle to take their medication as it is prescribed for a variety of reasons; some patients forget to take their medication; some patients don’t take their medication on purpose because they worry about side effects or don’t understand why they’re taking the medicine; some patients can’t afford to collect their medicines every month; some patients don’t take their medication because they don’t like the taste and some don’t realise the importance of taking their medication as prescribed. Recently interventions or ’compliance aids’ have been developed to help patients take their medication. Most of these devices are based on the idea that patients forget to take their medication however very little evidence is available to support this.
This study hopes to investigate ’what’ patients experience when they take medication and ’how’ they experience it and will hopefully lead to more helpful devices to help patients get the most out of their medicines.
REC name
South Central - Oxford C Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/SC/0272
Date of REC Opinion
6 May 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion