title: Which interventions are used by health care professionals to enhance medication adherence in cardiovascular patients? A survey of current clinical practice.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Complex medication regimens are often required to manage cardiovascular diseases. As non-adherence, which can have severe negative outcomes, is common among cardiovascular patients, various interventions to improve adherence should be implemented in daily practice.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess which strategies cardiovascular nurses and allied health professionals utilize to (1) assess patients' adherence to medication regimen, and (2) enhance medication adherence via educational/cognitive, counseling/behavioral, and psychological/affective interventions.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 45-item questionnaire to assess adherence assessment and interventional strategies utilized by health care professionals in daily clinical practice was distributed to a convenience sample of attendants of the 10th Annual Spring Meeting of the European Society of Cardiology Council on Cardiovascular Nursing and Allied Professions conference in Geneva (Switzerland) in March 2010. Respondents not in direct clinical practice were excluded. Descriptive statistics were used to describe practice patterns regarding adherence management.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 276 distributed questionnaires, 171 (62%) were returned, of which 34 (20%) were excluded as respondents performed no direct patient care. Questioning patients about non-adherence during follow-up was the most frequently reported assessment strategy (56%). Educational/cognitive adherence enhancing interventions were used most frequently, followed by counseling/behavioral interventions. Psychological/affective interventions were less frequently used. The most frequent intervention used was providing reading materials (66%) followed by training patients regarding medication taking during inpatient recovery (48%). Slightly over two-thirds (69%) reported using a combination of interventions to improve patient's adherence.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Educational interventions are used most in clinical practice, although evidence shows they are less effective than behavioral interventions at enhancing medication adherence.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nursing Science, University of Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Lut
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Berben
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bogert
authors.forename: Marcia E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Leventhal
authors.forename: Bengt
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fridlund
authors.forename: Tiny
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jaarsma
authors.forename: Tone M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Norekvål
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Strömberg
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: Sabina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: De Geest
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000451:nursing*; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011364:Professional Practice / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016903:Drug Monitoring