Medication beliefs strongly affect individuals' management of chronic diseases, expert says
Monday, October 15, 2012 - 13:01
in Health & Medicine
Aging adults' poor adherence to prescribed medication regimens is connected to their beliefs about the necessity of prescriptions and concerns about long-term effects and dependency, a researcher finds. Failure to use medications as directed increases patients' risk for side effects, hospitalizations, reduced quality of life and shortened lifespans. Researcher recommends that health practitioners use behavior-change tactics to encourage patients to take medications as prescribed.