Treatment-related empowerment: preliminary evaluation of a new measure in patients with advanced HIV disease.
This paper presents a novel method for assessing patients' perceptions of empowerment in the context of drug therapy, the Treatment-related Empowerment Scale (TES). The 10-item TES was specifically constructed to address components of communication, treatment choice, decision-making and satisfaction. Evaluation of the scale in a cross-sectional anonymous survey of 43 patients with advanced HIV infection revealed acceptable internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha=0.85) and evidence of both criterion and discriminant validity. Patients who perceived a high degree of treatment-related empowerment were less likely to view doctors as overly reliant on prescribing medicines and reported lower rates of intentional noncompliance. The TES has scope as a concise measure of patients' degree of control over the selection and use of drug therapy, and may be of particular value for current combination therapy regimens.
Webb
D G
DG
Academic Department of Pharmacy, St Bartholomew's Hospital, West Smithfield, London, UK. david.webb@nph.npstm-tr.nthames.nhs.uk
Horne
R
R
Pinching
A J
AJ
D023241:Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D011209:Power, Psychological; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires