Including a behavioural component into educational interventions may enhance medication adherence in children and adolescents with chronic illness
- The University of Melbourne, Melbourne School of Health Sciences, Carlton, Victoria, Australia
- Correspondence to Allison Williams
The University of Melbourne, Level 5, 234 Queensberry Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia; afw{at}unimelb.edu.au
Background
Adherence to long-term medications for chronic conditions in developed countries averages 50%.1 Medications do not work unless they are taken as prescribed. Few studies have examined adherence-enhancing interventions in children and adolescents with a chronic condition.2 This is an important area of research as optimal adherence patterns need to be established early in the long-term management of chronic conditions for best possible outcomes.
Study overview
Dean and colleagues searched data from MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, the Cochrane Library and Web of Science from January 1980 to June 2007 using the terms (adherence.ti OR compliance.ti OR concordance.ti) AND (child$ OR adolesce$ OR pediatr$) AND (intervention OR treatment OR trial OR medication) …
