Adhering to adherence. The no-blame approach
Adherence is one the biggest challenges facing healthcare today. Sub-optimal adherence results in sub-optimal health outcomes, which burdens a system already buckling under many other pressures.
Non-adherence has historically been blamed on the patients themselves. However, a broad industry shift towards patient centricity and a great appreciation of the behavioural barriers means that the focus of responsibility is shifting to healthcare practioners, the government and pharmaceutical companies.
Patient’s automatic decision-making processes exert a strong influence on behaviour and therefore understanding the personal and situational barriers in the use of medication is crucial to combat the adherence problem effectively.
Our paper provides a framework for thinking about adherence through patient behaviour, looking at four categories: motivation, ability, physical context and social context. These are overlaid with the three stages of adherence to give a holistic understanding of the problem at hand.
With this framework, we can begin to create bespoke interventions which speak to individuals, allowing a patient-centric and more informed approach to tackling the adherence challenge.
The link below will take you to the full report
