Socio-cognitive factors associated with non-adherence to medication after hospital discharge

Poor adherence to prescribed medication is a well-known problem and continues to be a major challenge in all medical specialties. Unlike previous studies that have mainly focused on nonadherence behaviors in specific diseases, this study sought to examine socio-cognitive factors associated with nonadherence behavior in a sample of a general clinical population. A questionnaire investigating socio-demographic and cognitive factors and a telephone followup interview were administered to 84 patients recruited in a General Medicine Unit before their discharge. Half of the participants were informed about that follow-up procedure. One month after hospital discharge, 42% of uninformed patients reported nonadherence behaviors, as against 21% of informed patients. Middle-aged patients and short-term treatments were associated significantly more often with nonadherence. Among cognitive factors, patients’ perceived risks and benefits of nonadherence, personal susceptibility to diseases, subjective health value, and reported memory failures were significantly associated with adherence. We conclude that a patient’s perception may be more important than medication load, illness severity, and complexity of regimen in influencing medication adherence, and that a telephone call follow-up helps in monitoring medication adherence after hospital discharge.