To support healthcare professionals in improving adherence, a series of articles has been developped to provide digestible learning resources around the role behavior science plays in adherence, including practical insights relating to therapy areas. The articles provide a useful companion to a series of masterclasses where the subjects of adherence and behavioral science are explored in more depth.


Latest articles

Heuristics and decision-making: What are the effects on adherence for patients with vertigo?

The human mind has evolved to make decisions and draw the most plausible conclusions regardless of the quality of available information. The decision-making process is influenced by heuristics, or cognitive shortcuts, which can have a significant effect on adherence when relevant information is limited. Understanding heuristics can significantly help us understand patients’ adherence and assist…

Central Nervous System

Understanding Patient Attitudes: The Health Belief Model

The Health Belief Model (HBM) is a model to help understand what patients believe about their health The HBM can be used to identify detrimental patient behaviors caused by a poor understanding of a condition or treatment The HBM can be used to structure interactions with patients to enhance their understanding of treatment and lifestyle…

Central Nervous System

The Theory of Planned Behavior: A Patient’s Control Dilemma

How do people make difficult decisions? How do people decide which career to undertake, what car to buy, or whether to take medication? Important decisions are typically the result of some degree of thought and planning, a process that Daniel Kahneman labelled “System 2” thinking in his groundbreaking book, Thinking Fast and Slow.1 What is…

Central Nervous System

The Transtheoretical Model and the stages of patient adherence

The Transtheoretical Model (TTM) proposes a stepped approach to effectively change health behaviors The TTM can help providers evaluate beliefs and behaviors affecting patients’ treatment and indicate the support needed to motivate positive change The TTM is one of the most widely used health behavior models and has been shown to have a positive impact…

Central Nervous System

The Behavior Change Wheel: A framework for improving vertigo treatment adherence

Interventions designed to improve vertigo treatment adherence are often designed without any understanding of what drives patient behavior; as a result, they are only moderately effective The Behavior Change Wheel (BCW) framework is a useful model for understanding non-adherence to vertigo treatments The BCW highlights the importance of addressing patients’ specific concerns regarding their treatment…

Central Nervous System

Activating patients to improve adherence

The Patient Activation Measure (PAM) and Medication Adherence Questionnaire (MAQ) are tools providers can use to measure patients’ health behavior The PAM can be used to evaluate a patient’s ability to manage their health and conditions; the Medication Adherence Questionnaire can be used to evaluate the patient’s level of adherence to their prescribed therapies These…

Central Nervous System

“Nudging” patients towards better adherence to improve outcomes

“Nudging” increases the likelihood of a given behavior by invoking a patient’s System 1 decision making process. Nudging techniques are increasingly used by governments to shape healthcare and other public policies. Nudging techniques can also be used to enhance treatment adherence in clinical practice. As described in previous articles, adherence to treatment for patients suffering…

Central Nervous System

Personalizing adherence support with Patient Support Programs

Patient Support Programs (PSPs) are behavioral interventions designed to help patients adhere to their medication and treatment plans. To reach the broadest patient population, PSPs increasingly incorporate digital components such as text messaging and web portals. “Personalization” applies behavioral science techniques to digital interventions to increase the effectiveness of interventions. Patient Support Programs are behavioral…

Central Nervous System

How do Patient Support Programs impact adherence?

Some Patient Support Programs (PSPs) considerably increase adherence rates while others only have limited impact. Behavioral science theories and advances in digital technologies can enhance PSP program engagement and improve their effectiveness. Non-adherence is a major issue that can be addressed by PSPs Non-adherence is a major barrier limiting the benefits of clinically effective treatments. …

Central Nervous System

The impact of Patient Support Programs on adherence: enhancing engagement and improving effectiveness

PSPs are designed to boost adherence; some have significant impact, however, other programs have been shown to have limited success PSPs should have their basis in behavioral science theories and incorporate a mixture of informative and behavioral strategies to enhance their effectiveness Patient Support Programs are designed to boost adherence Patient Support Programs (PSPs) employ…

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