Central Nervous System

Gamification for enhancing adherence to mental health treatments

Mental wellbeing is imperative for physical health and day-to-day functioning. However, a sound mental health has become challenging in today’s super connected, yet isolating world. Today, every one in eight people is struggling with a mental health issue which amounts to 14% of the global disease burden3,4. The increasing burden of mental health issues are…

Improving treatment outcome in mental health by enhancing medication compliance

Medication compliance in mental health Medication adherence, defined as the extent to which a patient follows a prescribed dosing regimen, varies widely among mental health patients, with rates ranging from 20 to 70%. Factors such as substance misuse, negative attitudes towards treatment, doubts about therapy’s effectiveness, and strained healthcare relationships contribute to this inconsistency across…

Central Nervous System

Medication compliance in mental health for improved treatment outcome

Good health is defined as a state of physical, mental, and social well-being. Lack of debilitating physical symptoms alone doesn’t necessarily mean sound health. Although the focus on mental health is growing, the global efforts to remedy them have remained insufficient1. Mental health conditions include various mental and neurological disorders, substance-abuse behavior, suicidal tendencies as…

Central Nervous System
Women in an apron smiling at customers

Severe psychiatric disorders: causes & interventions for medication non-adherence

The key challenges to medication adherence for patients with severe psychotic disorders include -medication side effects, complexity, and duration as well as patient’s insights, beliefs, social stigma, and lack of support1. Psychoeducation, Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), and motivational interviewing are the typically used strategies to improve adherence2. The digital medicine system is a novel and…

Central Nervous System

How do PSPs impact adherence?

Non-adherence is a major issue that can be addressed by PSPs Non-adherence impedes patients from benefiting from the clinical promise of their treatment. Medications that have proven their potential in clinical trials may not deliver on that potential in the real world, potentially because of non-adherence.1 The numbers speak for themselves: average adherence rates for…

Central Nervous System

“Personalizing” adherence support with Patient Support Programs

Patient Support Programs are behavioral interventions for improving adherence Non-adherence to therapies in neurological conditions is a significant issue, associated with worse clinical outcomes and increased healthcare utilization and costs.1 There are many factors involved, including complexity of medication regimens, depression, gender, and duration of disease that may lead to a patient being non-adherent,2,3 therefore,…

Central Nervous System

Activating patients to improve adherence

Measures and survey tools are useful for characterizing patient health behavior Chronic diseases are a global public health issue and are increasing in prevalence and associated costs. These conditions require significant self-management by patients, including adherence to therapy regimens and medication.1 Adherence to epilepsy medication is associated with improved control of symptoms; however, non-adherence is…

Central Nervous System

The Behavior Change Wheel: A framework for improving adherence

Improving patient outcomes and adherence requires an actionable framework Previous articles in this series demonstrate that non-adherence is a significant public health issue in patients with neurologic disease. A study conducted in Europe in 2004 estimated that the annual economic cost of neurological disease (including dementia, epilepsy, migraine and other headaches, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease…

Central Nervous System

The Transtheoretical Model and the “stages” of patient adherence

The Transtheoretical Model: a tool for influencing positive behavioral change Neurological disorders are a significant public health issue worldwide.1 Non-adherence to therapy for these conditions results in poor response to therapy, impacts on the quality of life of patients and causes associated costs to them and healthcare systems.2,3 Non-adherence rates have been shown to be…

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

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

Patient behavior and the drivers of vertigo treatment adherence

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…

Central Nervous System

The impact of non-adherence to therapies for neurological disorders: higher costs and worse outcomes

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…

Central Nervous System

Patient adherence: An opportunity for improving outcomes in neurologic diseases

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…

Central Nervous System