A structural equation model of relationships of health literacy, illness and medication beliefs with medication adherence among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Parul Agarwal*, Jenny Lin, Kimberly Muellers, Rachel O'Conor, Michael Wolf, Alex D. Federman, Juan P. Wisnivesky

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objective: To determine the relative contributions of health literacy (HL) and illness and medication beliefs to medication adherence among older COPD patients and determine the pathways through which they operate. Methods: The study was conducted using data from a prospective cohort of COPD patients in New York City and Chicago. We used structural equation modeling to examine the pathways linking HL, through medications and illness beliefs, with COPD medication adherence. Results: Out of 393 older adults with COPD, 123 (31%) had limited HL and 208 (53%) reported low adherence to daily COPD medications. Those with limited HL were more likely to have low medication adherence (p < 0.0001). Medications concerns (p = 0.001) and medication necessity (p = 0.003) demonstrated a mediational role between HL and adherence. However, in the final multivariate model, HL did not have direct effect on medication adherence (p = 0.12) and illness beliefs (p = 0.16) did not demonstrate a mediational role between HL and adherence. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that low HL is not a direct predictor of poor medication adherence among COPD patients. Practice implications: Addressing medication concerns and reinforcing the need for daily COPD medications may be a more effective strategy for increasing adherence in this population.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1445-1450
Number of pages6
JournalPatient education and counseling
Volume104
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2021

Funding

This work was funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, USA, grant number R01HL105385.

Keywords

  • COPD
  • COPD illness
  • Health literacy
  • Medication beliefs and adherence
  • Structural equation models

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Medicine

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