Page 117 - Petelin, Ana, ur. 2024. Zdravje delovno aktivnih in starejših odraslih / Health of Working-Age and Older Adults. Zbornik povzetkov z recenzijo ▪︎ Book of Abstracts. Koper: Založba Univerze na Primorskem/University of Primorska Press

Medication non-adherence in older adults in the home environment
and nurse interventions

Ester Benko, Helena Skočir, Melita Peršolja
University of Primorska Faculty of Health Sciences, Izola, Slovenia

Introduction: The world’s population is ageing; the number of chronic diseases be-
ing diagnosed is increasing and the number of medicines being administered is rising.
Medication non-adherence in older adults living in the home environment is poorly
described in the literature. The aim of this paper is to describe medication non-adher-
ence and to identify interventions that nurses can use to prevent or stop this phenom-
enon in older adults living at home.
Methods: A review of domestic and foreign scientific literature was conducted in CI-
NAHL, PubMed, Medline and ScienceDirect databases using the following search
terms: adherence, older adults, home environment, medication adherence, medica-
tion compliance, home environment, aged. The search was not limited by the type of
study, and peer-reviewed publications from 2014 to 2024 were tracked. The process
of searching, screening and selecting articles was performed using the PRISMA flow-
chart. We performed a critical appraisal of the articles and content analysis of the da-
ta.
Results: We found that medication non-adherence was due to patient-related, drug-re-
lated or health system-related factors. Based on the causes, the nurse implements a
combined approach to the management of medication non-adherence by actively in-
volving the patient (older adult) in the management in the areas of knowledge and be-
liefs, communication and motivation, adjustment of the therapeutic regimen, use of dif-
ferent aids, reminders and help from family, friends and the social care system.
Discussion and conclusions: Healthcare professionals need to recognize the possibil-
ity of medication non-adherence in the older patient and tailor instructions and in-
terventions to the patient’s knowledge, beliefs and cultural background. There is a
wide range of interventions that nurses can use with the aim of reducing medication
non-adherence in older people living at home. With the trend towards polymorbidity
and thus polypharmacy, a combination of activities (such as motivation, teaching, sup-
portive attitudes and individualized monitoring) and the choice of appropriate devices
could make an important contribution to reduce medication non-adherence and thus problemi, izzivi in priložnosti na področju zdravja ... | concerns, challenges and opportunities in the health ...
to improve treatment outcomes.
Keywords: medication adherence; home environment; older adults; health care, inter-
ventions

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