Self-Care Behaviors of Medication Use and Medication Use Problems in Old-Old People with Chronic Diseases

Abstract

This descriptive study aimed to explore self-care behaviors of medication use and medication use problems in old-old people with chronic diseases. Orem’s self-care theory was used to guide the study. The sample consisted of 107 people aged 80 years and over diagnosed by doctors with hypertension and/or diabetes mellitus in Surat Thani Province.Semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data, which were then analyzed using descriptive statistics.The results revealed that nearly half of the sample used services and received medications from subdistrict health promoting hospitals more than other service sources. Most of them (82%) could administer self-medication by recognizing the appearance, color, packaging, name, and medication use methods. They could read, write, or mark the name on the medication case. However, almost all of the sample (90%) did not check the expiry date of medications. Each participant kept medications in different locations or containers associated with their daily life. For medication management, when the doctor stopped prescribing some medications, most participants returned them to the hospital, but some disposed of them. Almost 20% failed to adhere to the doctor’s regimen, including the frequency, dose, and type of medications. Less than half of those who had experienced adverse drug reactions to the medications visited the doctor before the follow-up appointment. The remaining observed their symptoms first; if there were no severe side effects,they would visit the doctor as the previous appointment. This study revealed self-care behaviors of medication use and medication use problems in old-old people with chronic diseases. These results could be used as basic information to develop interventions for promoting appropriate self-care behaviors of medication use and minimizing adverse effects in older people with chronic diseases.
Keywords: Chronic diseases,Medication use,Medication use problems,Old-oldpeople,Self-care behaviors