Medication information seeking behavior of patients who use multiple medicines: how does it affect adherence?

Objective: This article explores medication information seeking behavior (MISB). We aimed to develop a scale for measuring MISB and use it to explore the relationships between MISB, adherence and factors, which drive information seeking.

Methods: Patients (N=910) using multiple medicines completed questionnaires. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed. Correlations and multivariate analyses were used to investigate the relationships between variables.

Results: Respondents sought medication information mainly from health professionals and written medicines information. The medication information seeking behavior scale (MISB) had acceptable reliability and validity. Information seeking was most intense among respondents who had recent changes in their medicine regimen and worries about their medicines. Those who sought medication information from autonomous sources were more likely to be non-adherent than those who never did (OR=2.00 [1.48, 2.70]). Seeking information from health professionals had no influence on adherence.

Conclusion: Health practitioners should carefully attend to patients' questions about medicines information. When patients mention that they are worried about their medicines and have sought medication information from television, magazines, brochures or family and friends, this could be a sign that they tend towards non-adherent behavior.

Practice implications: The MISB scale could be used to learn more about patients' use of medication information.