Pilot study to support medication adherence following ACS

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    A Pharmacist-Led Hospital-Based Intervention to Support Medication Adherence Following Acute Coronary Syndrome: An Intervention Cohort Study

  • IRAS ID

    232133

  • Contact name

    John Weinman

  • Contact email

    john.weinman@kcl.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    King's College London

  • Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier

    NCT03218813

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    0 years, 10 months, 31 days

  • Research summary

    Background
    Medication adherence following acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is often sub-optimal and is associated with poor clinical outcomes. There is evidence that psychosocial factors such as treatment beliefs play a role in determining adherence (Crawshaw et al., 2016) and have the potential to be changed through intervention (Johnston et al., 2016).

    Aims
    The aim of this proposed study is to pilot a pharmacist-led hospital-based intervention to support medication adherence in patients following ACS. This proposed study follows on from a recent feasibility study (IRAS: 212827).

    Methods
    A non-randomised intervention cohort study (i.e. controlled before-and-after (CBA) study) will be conducted. Patients diagnosed with ACS will be recruited from a single NHS inpatient site over two recruitment periods. Informed consent will be taken. Pharmacists will be trained by the research team to deliver the intervention between recruitment periods, thus creating two comparable groups (control/'before' group vs. intervention/'after' group).

    The intervention will challenge both perceptual (Session 1) and practical barriers (Session 2) to good medication-taking behaviour during two face-to-face sessions between patient and pharmacist. Patients will complete a questionnaire before Session 1 and a worksheet during Session 2.

    Session 1 will focus on treatment beliefs and challenge any misconceptions patients have about the medications they have been prescribed. Session 2 will involve patients formulating action plans with the pharmacist to help establish a clear medication-taking routine for when they return home. Patients will be followed up at two time-points - 6 weeks and 12 weeks post-discharge. Data will be collected via self-report.

    Outcomes
    The primary outcome of this proposed study are treatment beliefs, measured using the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire-Specific (BMQ-S) (Horne, Weinman & Hankin, 1999). Our secondary outcome will be self-reported medication adherence measured using the Medication Adherence Report Scale (MARS-5) (Horne & Weinman, 2002). Depression, self-efficacy and satisfaction with medicines information provision will also be measured.

  • REC name

    London - Chelsea Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    17/LO/1706

  • Date of REC Opinion

    8 Nov 2017

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion