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.
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…
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…
As described in the articles, Two systems of thought: Why “rational” people make “irrational” choices, the mind has two systems of thinking: System 1 and System 2. System 1 is immediate and spontaneous; System 2 is reflective and conscious but requires cognitive effort and is used less frequently. System 1, governing our immediate, impulsive reaction,…
Recent breakthroughs in behavioral science demonstrate that people make decisions, including treatment adherence decisions, according to two systems of thinking: System 1, which is rapid but intuitive and biased, and System 2, which is more rational and reflective but complex. Humans tend to favor System 1. Both System 1 and System 2 lead to intentional…
Non-adherence factors may be organized into five categories: socioeconomic, health care team and system-related, disease-related, therapy-related, and patient-related. Behavioral drivers of non-adherence are both intentional and unintentional. Despite extensive research, no single model has yet been shown to be highly accurate in predicting patient adherence. Treatment adherence offers a significant opportunity for improved outcomes Characterizing…
Increasing adherence to therapy represents a significant opportunity area for improving outcomes. Increased adherence can improve the clinical outcomes and quality of life of patients with neurological disorders.1,2 Patients with Parkinson’s disease have higher medical-care needs, often miss work and require care; these effects contribute to the overall economic burden.3 Patients with uncontrolled epileptic seizures…
Neurological disorders are a growing burden for healthcare systems worldwide. Neurological disorders contributed to 5–10% of the global burden of disease in 2005 (assessed in disability-adjusted life years).1 Conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy have significant associated costs and reduced quality of life for patients.2,3 Treatment of these chronic diseases requires patients to incorporate…
Interventions designed to improve therapy 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 and characterizing adherence behavior. The BCW highlights the importance of addressing patients’ specific concerns regarding their menopause therapy. …
The Patient Activation Measure (PAM) and Medication Adherence Questionnaire (MAQ) are tools that providers can use to evaluate patients’ health behavior. The PAM can be used to evaluate patients’ ability to manage their health and conditions; the MAQ can be used to evaluate patients’ level of adherence to their prescribed therapies. Providers can use the…
The human mind has evolved to make decisions and draw the most plausible conclusions regardless of the quality of the available information. The decision-making process is influenced by heuristics, or cognitive shortcuts, that can have a significant effect on adherence when relevant information is limited. Understanding heuristics can significantly help us to understand patients’ adherence…