title: Medication-taking among adult renal transplant recipients: barriers and strategies.
abstract: Medication adherence is essential for the survival of kidney grafts, however, the complexity of the medication-taking regimen makes adherence difficult. Little is known about barriers to medication-taking and strategies to foster medication-taking. This cross-sectional study involved semi-structured interviews with 82 kidney transplant recipients approximately 2 months post-transplant on medication-related adherence, barriers to medication-taking, and strategies to foster medication-taking. Although self-reported adherence was high (88%), qualitative analysis revealed that half of the patients (49%) reported experiencing at least one barrier to medication-taking. The most common barriers were: not remembering to refill prescriptions (13%), changes to medication prescriptions or dosages (13%), being busy (10%), forgetting to bring medicines with them (10%), and being away from home (10%). The most common strategies to foster medication-taking were: maintaining a schedule of medication-taking (60%), organizing pills using pillboxes, baggies, cups (42%), bringing medicines with them (34%), organizing pills according to routine times (32%), and relying on other people to remind them (26%). Understanding the range of barriers to adherence and strategies kidney recipients devised to promote medication-taking may help transplant clinicians to better educate transplant recipients about appropriate medication-taking, mitigate the risk of medication nonadherence-related rejection, and may help inform patient-centered interventions to improve medication adherence.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Healthcare Studies, Department of Surgery, Division of Organ Transplantation, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. e-gordon@northwestern.edu
authors.forename: Elisa J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Gordon
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gallant
authors.forename: Ashwini R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Sehgal
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Conti
authors.forename: Laura A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Siminoff
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D008297:Male; D055118:Medication Adherence; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance; D012646:Self Administration
chemical_list: D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents