Medication adherence in a Paediatric CF unit and barriers to adherence

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Service Evaluation Project - Adherence to inhaled antibiotics and enzymes in the Leeds Regional Paediatric Cystic Fibrosis Centre and the role of beliefs about medication as a barrier to adherence in this department.

• IRAS ID

  147668

• Contact name

  Louise Maclean

• Contact email

  umlm@leeds.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  University of Leeds

• Research summary

  This service evaluation was commissioned by, and will be conducted jointly with, Dr Alistair Duff, Consultant Clinical Psychologist in the Paediatric Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Centre. This is a service evaluation as the data we want to collect is already collected in the Centre. The reason we are applying for ethical approval is although this data is regularly collected, we would like to collect some of it in a more formal way. We will do this by administering questionnaires (although the same questions are asked routinely). We hope to publish the findings so they benefit other CF Centres.

  Not taking medications in the way they are prescribed, called non-adherence, is a challenge in healthcare. Daily adherence to inhaled medication is essential to keep children with CF healthy. However, adherence is often poor. Therefore this service evaluation will first evaluate current levels of medication adherence.
  
  Irregular adherence can result in irreversible damage in CF. It is important to evaluate whether there are factors which currently act as a barrier to taking medication in this Centre. From clinical discussions, one thing we understand can influence adherence is beliefs about medicines. Very little is known about this in CF. We will therefore evaluate whether patient and parent beliefs about CF medication are a barrier to care in this Centre. This service evaluation aims to fill these two knowledge gaps.

  Participants are the patients attending the CF centre. Parental consent and child assent will be gained. Questionnaires regarding beliefs about medication will be administered to patients or their parents (if the child is under 12). Parental consent will also be sought to access existing data from the patient's iNebuliser. This is an interactive device which orally delivers medication and records the details of the dose.

• REC name

  Yorkshire & The Humber - South Yorkshire Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  14/YH/1160

• Date of REC Opinion

  1 Sep 2014

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion