Research Profiles - (Not-so) easy to follow instructions
The advice we get to take a medication or undergo a screening test may seem straightforward. But we all know that life is more complicated than the instructions on a medication bottle. Many factors can influence a person's choices about whether or not to take a medication as it's prescribed, or to follow a doctor's recommendations. This month, CIHR is profiling the work of four researchers who are taking a fresh look at the complex issue of treatment adherence.
Drs. Barbara Patterson and Lucie Blais are studying the particularly challenging chronic disease management choices that often accompany life transitions. In Parental Guidance Required, Dr. Patterson focuses on the adolescent period, when a parent's role in helping a child manage diabetes is often redefined. Her team is developing an online resource to help ease parents through this difficult transition. In The Best Intentions, Dr. Blais examines the dilemma faced by many pregnant women who are trying to manage their asthma without adversely affecting their unborn child.
Drs. Maida Sewitch and Viviane Dias Lima are studying how better treatment adherence could improve the health of entire communities. In Calling Attention to the Colon, Dr. Sewitch asks whether a call centre, set up to handle queries about colorectal cancer screening, can increase the number of people who undergo testing for this fatal disease. In Following your HAART, Dr. Lima discusses HIV/AIDS treatment adherence, which is influenced by factors ranging from the stigma associated with the illness, to medication access, to mental health issues among patients. Her team is using mathematical models to determine the optimal time to initiate treatment with anti-retrovirals; a decision that has both individual and societal consequences.
The studies profiled this month show us just how complicated our choices about adherence can be. This research is essential to help clinicians, patients and families successfully manage illness.
Dr. Nancy Edwards
Scientific Director
CIHR Institute of Population and Public Health
