Beliefs about medicines among community-dwelling elderly in general practice, a quantitative survey.

Abstract

Background: Although elderly are frequent medication users, the published knowledge about elderly’s beliefs about medicines is not very extensive. These beliefs are crucial for the development of a nursing intervention for nurses working with community-dwelling elderly, in the middle of the Netherlands. Aim: to assess the beliefs of community-dwelling elderly, regarding to medication, in the Netherlands. Research questions: “What are the beliefs of community-dwelling elderly, regarding to necessity, concerns, overuse and harm of medication, in the Netherlands?” (primary research question), and: “What are the beliefs about medicines for participants with differences in age, gender, educational level, number of medicines a day and therapeutic indications of medicines?” (secondary research question). Method: this quantitative cross-sectional survey examines the beliefs about medicines of community-dwelling elderly in five general practices in the Netherlands, and the relationship between beliefs and respectively age, gender, educational level, number and therapeutic indication of medicines. Beliefs were measured using the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ), in a single interview. Results: the 91 study participants (median age = 71.0 years) had strong beliefs in the necessity of their medicines, while beliefs in concerns, overuse and harm were less strong. Associations were found between beliefs and gender, educational level, therapeutic indication of medicines and number of medicines. Conclusion: the results of this study give an impression of how elderly view their medicines, namely as necessary, with in minority aspects like concerns, harm, and overuse. Recommendations: More attention should be paid to elderly’s individual beliefs about their medicines. Further research, using a qualitative design, is needed to gain a better understanding of this phenomenon. This could contribute to tailored interventions and care for elderly.