Illness Perceptions and Medication Adherence in Adolescents with Sickle Cell Disease in Two Selected Hospitals in Greater Accra

Abstract

Some previous researches in the West and Europe have indicated how illness perceptions relate to medication adherence in adolescents with various chronic diseases. There is however a gap in the literature on how the various illness perception dimensions are associated with medication adherence in Ghana among adolescents with chronic diseases like sickle cell. The aim of this study was to investigate how the various illness perception dimensions are associated with medication adherence in adolescents with sickle cell disease. A total of 120 adolescents’ sickle cell patients receiving treatments at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and Tema General Hospital were conveniently sampled to be part of the study. They completed self-report questionnaires about their demographic and medical data, their illness perception using the Illness Perception Questionnaire- Revised (IPQ-R) and their medication adherence using the Medication Adherence Report Scale-5 (MARS5). The outcome of the analysis using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient indicated a significant positive relationship between the following illness perception dimensions (consequences, emotional representation, treatment control, timeline cyclical, timeline-acute/chronic and illness coherence) and medication adherence. The multiple regression analysis indicated that timeline cyclical significantly predicted medication adherence the most compared to the other dimensions. The findings of this study provided evidence that illness perception of adolescents with sickle cell disease is significantly related to medication adherence. Health care providers such as nurses and doctors should consider having a discussion about the perception adolescents with sickle cell disease have about their condition as this is related to medication adherence. Also, when treatment is been planned, it should be tailored to meet the individual needs.