Patients' beliefs and attitudes about their treatment for inflammatory bowel disease in Korea

Abstract

Background and Aims: Adherence to medication during the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is important in terms of maintaining remission. According to studies on adherence to medication in other chronic diseases, non-adherence is associated with negative attitudes to treatment. The aims of this study were to assess adherence rates and IBD patients’ beliefs and attitudes regarding medication using a questionnaire based ap- proach. Methods: Two hundred and eighty seven patients from three tertiary hospitals were en- rolled and completed a questionnaire that addressed adherence (Medication Adherence Re- port Scale, MARS), beliefs, and attitudes to medication (Beliefs about Medications Questionnaire, BMQ). Results: Using a cutoff score of 16/20 for MARS, 64 (22.3%) patients did not adhere to medication. According to attitude analysis conducted using the BMQ, 41.8% of the 287 study subjects felt high necessity but low concern for the medication (“accepting”) and 34.8% felt high necessity and concern (“ambivalent”). Multivariate analysis showed signif- icantly lower adherence to medication among younger patients, patients with experience of adverse effects to medication, patients with demanding jobs, and for those with an “indif- ferent” or “skeptical” attitude regarding the benefits of medication. On the other hand, IBD patients with “accepting” attitude adhered to medication. Conclusion: Twenty-two percent of IBD patients were non-adherent to medical treatment, and belief of the need for medication was found to significantly enhance adherence. Inter- ventions, such as education about the ef ficacy and safety of medications, should be consid- ered to facilitate adherence to medical treatment among IBD patients.