Abstract
BACKGROUND: Adherence affected by many factors in the patient or in the treatment. One of these factors is beliefs about medicine, which is modifiable. This study aimed to assess the effect of beliefs about medicines on adherence to medications in diabetic patients. METHODS: It is a cross-sectional descriptive-analytic study, conducted between March 2019 and June 2019, in Family medicine outpatient clinic, Suez Canal University, Egypt. A consecutive sample of diabetic patients presented to the clinic in the period of study was included until fulfilling sample size (82 patients). They filled validated questionnaires of the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale, Beliefs about Medicine, and socio-demographic characteristics. RESULTS: About half of the patients were non-adherent (54.9%). The necessity beliefs mean was 18.6, while the median was 20, concerns beliefs mean was 14.2, while the median was 14, overuse beliefs mean was 12.2, while the median was 13, finally mean and median of harm score was 11.0. There was a statistically significant relationship between age, education, concern, and harm score with adherence (p = 0.04, 0.02, < 0.001, and 0.03). Age was a positive predictor of adherence; and concern beliefs score was a negative predictor of adherence. CONCLUSIONS: Physicians should inquire about their patient medication beliefs and its effect on patient adherence to discover and solve concerns of diabetic patients to improve non-adherence.