Psychology

Autonomous regulation and long-term medication adherence in adult outpatients

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Self-determination theory was applied to explore the motivational basis of adherence to long-term medication prescriptions. Adult outpatients with various diagnoses who had been on a medication for at least I month and expected to continue (a) completed questionnaires that assessed their autonomous regulation, other motivation variables, and perceptions of their physicians' support of their autonomy by hearing their concerns and offering choice; (b) provided subjective ratings of their adherence and a 2-day retrospective pill count during an interview with a clinical psychologist; and (c) provided a 14-day prospective pill count during a subsequent, brief telephone survey. LISREL analyses supported the self-determination model for adherence by confirming that patients' autonomous motivation for adherence did mediate the relation between patients' perceptions of their physicians' autonomy support and their own medication adherence.

Publication Title

Health Psychology

Publication Date

1998

Volume

17

Issue

3

First Page

269

Last Page

276

ISSN

0278-6133

DOI

10.1037/0278-6133.17.3.269

Keywords

medication adherence, patient autonomous motivation, physician autonomy support, self-determination theory

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