Psychology A2 · Health Psychology. The idea in plain words, the rules to remember, the mistake to avoid and a worked example, written and checked by Mega Lecture.
Adherence means following medical advice. Non-adherence has two main types: failure to follow treatment (missing doses, stopping early, ignoring advice on diet or exercise) and failure to attend appointments. It leads to worse health, wasted medicines and appointments, higher costs and, with antibiotics, drug resistance.
Non-adherence is not always careless. In rational non-adherence the patient weighs costs against benefits and decides not to follow the advice, for example because of side effects or price. Laba et al. (2012) asked Australian adults to choose between imaginary medicines and found that they traded off benefits, harms and cost.
The health belief model says adherence depends on the patient’s beliefs about the threat and about the treatment.
Students call every case of non-adherence “forgetting”. If the patient has made a reasoned decision, it is rational (intentional) non-adherence.
Answer: Low perceived susceptibility.
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