I think it would be interesting to dig deeper into the thoughts of those who do abandon their prescriptions to see what stopped them from picking it up and if they made any plans of what they may do to compensate. There seems to be two categories of abandonment: (1) abandonment due to cost and (2) abandonment due to not placing high importance on the prescription or taking the drug. The cost issue seems pretty straightforward, but that people abandon their prescription because it is a new prescription, it is one of many prescriptions for co-morbidities, or because of the type of drug suggests that there is some thought process going on in their mind or some feeling that the drug is not necessary. Do they want to “wait and see” if they REALLY need it? This may be the case with the first time prescriptions. They may also think, ‘I didn’t need it yesterday, I don’t need it today.’ Or they may feel, ‘if I just now became diabetic or hypertensive, then maybe there is a chance I can do something behavioral now that will alleviate it.’ Or it may be a part of their self view. They just may not see themselves as pharmaceutical drug users. Those with co-morbidities taking multiple drugs would not have the same type of thoughts described for those with a first time prescription. Maybe they hope that if they take at least some of their drugs, there will be beneficial effects for other conditions. For them the issue may also be money since they have to take so many drugs. The dichotomy between insulin and opiates may indicate that the immediacy of symptoms impact drug abandonment. Or the availability of adequate substitutes could account for differences between types of drugs.
I think it would be interesting to dig deeper into the thoughts of those who do abandon their prescriptions to see what stopped them from picking it up and if they made any plans of what they may do to compensate. There seems to be two categories of abandonment: (1) abandonment due to cost and (2) abandonment due to not placing high importance on the prescription or taking the drug. The cost issue seems pretty straightforward, but that people abandon their prescription because it is a new prescription, it is one of many prescriptions for co-morbidities, or because of the type of drug suggests that there is some thought process going on in their mind or some feeling that the drug is not necessary.
ReplyDeleteDo they want to “wait and see” if they REALLY need it? This may be the case with the first time prescriptions. They may also think, ‘I didn’t need it yesterday, I don’t need it today.’ Or they may feel, ‘if I just now became diabetic or hypertensive, then maybe there is a chance I can do something behavioral now that will alleviate it.’ Or it may be a part of their self view. They just may not see themselves as pharmaceutical drug users.
Those with co-morbidities taking multiple drugs would not have the same type of thoughts described for those with a first time prescription. Maybe they hope that if they take at least some of their drugs, there will be beneficial effects for other conditions. For them the issue may also be money since they have to take so many drugs.
The dichotomy between insulin and opiates may indicate that the immediacy of symptoms impact drug abandonment. Or the availability of adequate substitutes could account for differences between types of drugs.