Medication Experience and Adherence to Oral Chemotherapy: A Qualitative Study of Patients’ and Health Professionals’ Perspectives

Amparo Talens, Mercedes Guilabert, Blanca Lumbreras, María Teresa Aznar and Elsa López-Pintor
Additional contact information
Amparo Talens: Pharmacy Department, Hospital General Universitario de Elda, 03600 Elda, Spain
Mercedes Guilabert: Department of Health Psychology, Miguel Hernandez University, 03202 Elche, Spain
Blanca Lumbreras: Department of Public Health, History of Science and Gynecology, Miguel Hernandez University, 03550 San Juan de Alicante, Spain
María Teresa Aznar: Pharmacy Department, Hospital Universitario de San Juan de Alicante, 03550 San Juan de Alicante, Spain
Elsa López-Pintor: Department of Engineering, Area of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology, Miguel Hernandez University, 03550 San Juan de Alicante, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 8, 1-17

Abstract: Lack of adherence constitutes one of the most important challenges in patients undergoing treatment with oral antineoplastic drugs (ANEO). Understanding cancer patients’ experiences with respect to their medication is key for optimizing adherence and therapeutic results. We aimed to assess the medication experience (ME) in patients with cancer in treatment with ANEO, to describe the barriers and facilitators related to the disease and its treatment and to compare them with the healthcare professionals’ perspectives. We carried out an exploratory qualitative study in the University Hospital of San Juan de Alicante, Spain. Three focus groups and two nominal group discussions were conducted with 23 onco-hematological patients treated with ANEO and 18 health professionals, respectively. The data were analyzed using content analyses and were eventually triangulated. The most impactful aspects in patients’ ME were the presence of adverse effects; lack of information about treatment; beliefs, needs and expectations regarding medications; social and family support; and the relationship with the health professionals. Both patients and professionals agreed on considering the negative side effects and the information about treatment as the main barriers and facilitators of adherence, respectively, although the approaches differed between both profiles. The professionals offered a more technical vision while patients prioritized the emotional burden and motivation associated with the disease and medication. This study allowed us to understand the real-life experiences of patients being treated with ANEO and explore the factors which had an impact on adherence to treatment. This understanding enables professionals to have a positive influence on patients’ behavior and provide individualized care plans. Pharmacists’ assistance is relevant to support patients’ adherence and self-management.

Keywords: medication experience; adherence; oral cancer chemotherapy; qualitative study; antineoplastic agents (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/8/4266/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/8/4266/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:8:p:4266-:d:538078

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().