In medicine, a major concern with respect to medical care and medical outcomes is patient adherence with prescribed treatments. Treatment adherence refers to behavior in which individuals adhere to a prescribed treatment regimen for an illness. Adherence is most often thought of with respect to adherence with medication regimens, but adherence behaviors can also include other types of care such as office visits or psychotherapy. Treatment nonadherence is a recognized problem in medicine, accounting for 125,000 deaths annually and 10–25% of hospital and nursing home admissions. Treatment nonadherence is associated with negative consequences such as relapse, disease worsening or progression, need for rehospitalization, or even death.
In recent years, research and understanding of the treatment adherence issues have grown. A key shift within the medical profession has been to conceptualize adherence with treatment as a collaborative process between patients and care providers such that...
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Suggested Readings
Becker MH (1990) Theoretical models of adherence and strategies for improving adherence. In: Shumaker SA, Ockene JK (eds) The handbook of health behavior change. Springer, New York, pp 411–434
Smith DL (1989) Compliance packaging: a patient education tool. Am Pharm NS29(2):42–45, 49–50
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Sajatovic, M. (2008). Adherence. In: Loue, S.J., Sajatovic, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Aging and Public Health. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-33754-8_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-33754-8_13
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
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