PREDICTORS OF MEDICATION ADHERENCE AMONG OLDER ADULTS WITH UNCONTROLLED HYPERTENSION

Abstract

High blood pressure greatly raises the risk of stroke and heart disease, which are major causes of death and disability. Medication adherence is vital for older patients, especially those with uncontrolled hypertension. The purposes of this study were to describe medication adherence and its influencing factors among older adults with uncontrolled hypertension. A total of 137 participants were recruited from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University using a simple random sampling technique. Research instruments included questionnaires to gather data for : 1) demographic information, 2) Medication adherence, 3) Medication self-efficacy, 4) Medication literacy, and 5) Social support. Cronbach’s α coefficients of Medication self-efficacy, Medication literacy, Social support and Medication adherence obtained from this study were .742, .821, .772 and .762respectively. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics and standard multiple regression.

The results of this study showed that the mean score of medication adherence was 5.59 (SD= .98), which can be classified as a low level. Medication self-efficacy, medication literacy, and Social support could explained variance of medication adherence for 30. 8 % (Adjusted R² =.308,F(3,133)=21.185, p＜.001). The strongest predictor of medication adherence was medication self-efficacy (β= .431, p

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