Attitude towards Medication Adherence in Chronic Patients: Need for Psycho-Education

In the present era millions of people are challenged with chronic debilitating disorders which can be controlled but not cured. So long term medication and its adherence are important factors in successful management of chronic diseases. Non-adherence not only leads to serious health consequences but also raises the healthcare costs. The present study compares the patients' attitude of medication adherence towards four chronic diseases i.e. diabetes, arthritis, asthma and hypertension. A purposive sample of 160 patients comprising of males and females in the age range of 30-50 years was drawn from OPDs' of various departments of PGIMS, Rohtak and private clinics of Rohtak city. Patients' medication adherence was assessed by using Medication Adherence Rating Scale. Results indicated that overall 66.9% patients showed adherence. The patients with diabetes showed maximum adherence (80%), followed by asthma (70.73%), hypertension (65.85%) and arthritis (59.90%). ANOVA followed by t-tests indicated significant differences between patients of different chronic diseases. Socio-demographic factors did not show any significant effect on medication adherence except for education and duration of illness. A few strategies to strengthen the attitude towards medication adherence are discussed.