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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Despite the general recognition of the benefits of adherence to medical regimes, it has been estimated that 50% of medicines prescribed for long-term illness are not taken as recommended. Adherence is a multidetermined process. The Extended Common‐Sense Model proposes the inclusion of beliefs about medicines as mediators between illness representations and adherence. Stronger beliefs about medicines and their harmful effects have been associated with higher levels of nonadherence. Objective: Explore general beliefs about medicines, and their recommendation by doctors among the Portuguese general population (age > 18 years) who use community pharmacy. Methodology: The two subscales, “general overuse” and general harm”, of the “The Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire” (BMQ) and a sociodemographic questionnaire were used. IBM SPSS 26 software was used for statistical analysis. Results: A total of 847 Portuguese adults participated, 331 (39,1%) were 25-44 years of age; 427 (50,4%) concluded secondary education, and 198 (23,4%) reported having a chronic condition. The majority of participants endorse the belief that most medicines are addictive, and a large percentage agreed that they are toxic, that doctors overprescribed and could benefit from hearing patients; and that natural remedies are safer than medicines. Differences were found considering age (p=0,093), sex(p=0,08), and having active working (p=0,045) with stronger beliefs in young adults and adults, in males and no active workers. No differences were found considering the presence/absence of chronic disease". These results are discussed considering their possible contribution to the promotion of adherence through better communication with doctors, nurses, and pharmacists.
Description
Keywords
Health psychology Medical prescription Health beliefs Portugal
Citation
Santos M, Grilo A, Andrade G, Coelho A. What people think about medicines and its prescription by doctors: a study in Portugal. In: EHPS 2022 – 36th Annual Conference of the European Health Psychology Society, Bratislava (Slovakia), August 23-27, 2022.