Future Thinking and Medicine Use in Chronically Ill Young People
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Future Thinking and Medicine Use in Children and Adolescents with Chronic Illnesses
IRAS ID
231851
Contact name
Aidan Feeney
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Queen's University Belfast
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 10 months, 1 days
Research summary
The ultimate aim of this project is to explore relations between future thinking and failure to adhere to medication in adolescents with chronic illnesses.
The tendency for people to discount future rewards because they are delayed varies depending on how individuals think about their future. Discounting the future is associated with problematic behaviours. Adolescents capable of vividly imagining their future and individuals who feel more psychologically connected to their future-selves are less likely to discount the future, while individuals who imagine their future to contain negative or stressful events (e.g. illness) are more likely to discount the future.
We suggest that chronically ill adolescents with poor adherence are discounting the future rewards of adherence in favour of the short term rewards of non adherence (e.g. avoidance of side effects and a feeling of normalcy with peers). As such, we hypothesize that chronically ill adolescents who show a greater tendency to discount the future will also be more likely to fail to adhere to their medications. We believe this may be because, as a result of their chronic illness, these adolescents may feel the future is uncertain or negative, meaning they focus more on the present, think less vividly about the future and feel less connected to their future selves. Ultimately, if this is the case, the present study may identify possible new targets for adherence intervention.
Adolescents with asthma, cystic fibrosis and diabetes and aged 12 – 17 and their parents will be recruited from Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children Outpatient Clinics.Consent and assent procedures will take place on the day of testing when participants will be asked to complete a questionnaire booklet that takes approximately 45 minutes to complete.
REC name
East Midlands - Leicester Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/EM/0303
Date of REC Opinion
29 Aug 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion