Does Online Community Participation Contribute to Medication Adherence? An Empirical Study of Patients with Chronic Diseases

Effectively improving the medication adherence of patients is crucial. Past studies focused on treatment-related factors, but little attention has been paid to factors concerning human beliefs such as trust or self-efficacy. The purpose of this study is to explore the following aspects of patients w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of environmental research and public health 2021-05, Vol.18 (10), p.5100
Main Authors: Wu, Jyh-Jeng, Chen, Yueh-Mei, Talley, Paul C., Kuo, Kuang-Ming
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chronic illnesses
Citizen participation
Community involvement
Community participation
Cooperation
Drugs
Emotions
Health care
Internet
Multivariate statistical analysis
Patient compliance
Questionnaires
Social networks
Social support
Statistical analysis
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Summary:Effectively improving the medication adherence of patients is crucial. Past studies focused on treatment-related factors, but little attention has been paid to factors concerning human beliefs such as trust or self-efficacy. The purpose of this study is to explore the following aspects of patients with chronic diseases: (1) The relationship between emotional support, informational support, self-efficacy, and trust; (2) the relationship between self-efficacy, trust, and medication adherence; and, (3) whether chronic patients’ participation in different types of online communities brings about significant statistical differences in the relationships between the abovementioned variables. A questionnaire survey was conducted in this study, with 452 valid questionnaires collected from chronic patients previously participating in online community activities. Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling analysis showed that emotional support and informational support positively predict self-efficacy and trust, respectively, and consequently, self-efficacy and trust positively predict medication adherence. In addition, three relationships including the influence of emotional support on trust, the influence of trust on medication adherence, and the influence of self-efficacy on medication adherence, the types of online communities result in significant statistical differences. Based on the findings, this research suggests healthcare professionals can enhance patients’ self-efficacy in self-care by providing necessary health information via face-to-face or online communities, and assuring patients of demonstrable support. As such, patients’ levels of trust in healthcare professionals can be established, which in turn improves their medication adherence.
ISSN:1660-4601
1661-7827
1660-4601
DOI:10.3390/ijerph18105100