Patient Treatment Adherence : Concepts, Interventions, and Measurement

This new book summarizes the adherence literature for a number of specific health behaviors and populations. It provides a comprehensive source on the conceptualization, interventions, and measurement of treatment adherence and a synthesis of the research across demographic and chronic diseases. The text presents problems associated with treatment adherence; theoretical models that have commonly been used to understand, predict, and/or improve adherence; adherence with specific behaviors including exercise, diet, rehabilitation, medication, and psychological therapies; and strategies in enhancing adherence. Because chronic diseases involve similar behaviors, the handbook is organized by specific behaviors and special populations, and not by disease. Every chapter is sub-organized by specific diseases to ensure easy access for the readers and features a discussion of adherence across demographic and chronic conditions, a review of previous interventions directed at the particular behavior or population, questions and scoring algorithms for widely used measures of treatment adherence, a discussion of the clinical research, and where appropriate, policy implications. Patient Treatment Adherence addresses: practical recommendations to improve adherence; the impact of non-adherence including costs and health-related quality of life; methodological issues such as assessing cost-effectiveness; and the use of technological advances to improve adherence. Intended for health service professionals, health, clinical, social, and cognitive psychologists, primary care physicians, pharmacists, and policy-makers, this text is also an excellent resource for graduate courses on health psychology and public health.