ABSTRACT
Medication adherence is a complex set of behaviors that is influenced by a range of patient, medication, and other factors. According to some models of adherence (e.g., Park & Jones, 1997), cognitive factors such as understanding and remembering how to take medication are important components of adherence (although noncognitive factors are also important, see Park & Mayhorn, 1996). Because these components depend on getting accurate information, communication about taking medication is also critical for adherence (Morrow, Leirer, & Sheikh, 1988). Cognitive components are becoming more important as health organizations provide more complete or expanded information to patients about their medications. For example, the majority of pharmacy patients in the United States report receiving some form of expanded written instructions that augment medication labels with information such as purpose and possible side effects (U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 1995). Expanded information is also provided by automated tele-phone messaging systems, which are now used by many organizations to remind people to take their medications or to attend health service appointments (e.g., Tanke & Leirer, 1994). This expanded communication is partly a response to federal legislation mandating pharmacist consultation with patients in the United States (Drug Store News for the Pharmacist, 1992). It is also a response to more general federal guidelines for providing medication information to patients. For example, there is a call for the private sector to distribute “useful” expanded information about new prescribed medications to 95% of all pharmacy patients by the year 2006 (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 1996). However, in order
to support adherence, this expanded communication must be easy to understand and remember.
