Other Titles
Rising Star Poster/Presentation - Rapid Presentation Round
Abstract
Several effective treatment options are currently available for patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH), including pharmacologic therapies such as breakthrough prostacyclin infusions, the use of durable medical equipment’s, and a myriad of lifestyle modifications. In spite of the availability of these treatment options, many patients remain unsure about their disease and the regular use of recommended treatment. Treatment adherence is defined as the extent to which a person's medication taking behavior, diet, and lifestyle changes corresponds with agreed health care providers recommendations (Burkhart & Sabaté, 2003). Even though a plethora of research has addressed treatment adherence among patients with various diagnoses, little is known about this phenomenon among patients with PH. This presentation proposes an integrative conceptual framework to understand treatment adherence among patients diagnosed with PH based on the Health belief Model and the Theory of Planned Behavior. The presentation also provides a critical review of the literature around this phenomenon by addressing five major dimensions. The first dimension includes the effect of social demographic and illness characteristic on treatment adherence. For example, studies reported lower treatment adherence levels among patients with PH who are younger, of lower socioeconomic status, with mild to moderate disease severity, and have comorbid health conditions. The second dimension is patient's beliefs that affect health behaviors, including patient perceptions around illness severity, treatment effectiveness, barriers to treatment, and motivation/ cues to action. The third dimension includes the impact of self-efficacy on treatment adherence, which has not been examined specifically among patients with PH but has been documented in the literature to positively impact health behaviors. The fourth focuses on subjective norms, which includes social support and provider communications. Studies have shown that treatment adherence is higher among patients with higher level of social support in the form of a spouse, caregivers, support groups, etc. In addition, healthcare providers play a critical role in promoting treatment adherence through the quality of their communication and the provision of clear and strong treatment recommendations. The fifth dimension focuses on access to care factors that impact treatment adherence among patients with PH. These include having insurance, having primary care provider, and having access to PH specialty healthcare services. Based on the proposed integrative conceptual framework and the review of the existing studies, implications for future research include the need for studies to examine the effect of socio-demographic and illness characteristics, patient believes, self-efficacy, subjective norms, and access to care among patients with PH on the treatment adherence. Such research is needed to guide the development of intervention strategies to improve patient adherence and to informed clinicians on ways to address their patient needs.
Notes
References:
Kjellström, B., Sandqvist, A., Hjalmarsson, C., Nisell, M., Näsman, P., & Ivarsson, B. (2020). Adherence to disease-specific drug treatment among patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension or chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. ERJ Open Res, 6(4). https://doi.org/10.1183/23120541.00299-2020
Ivarsson, B., Hesselstrand, R., Rådegran, G., & Kjellström, B. (2018). Adherence and medication belief in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension or chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension: A nationwide population-based cohort survey. Clin Respir J, 12(6), 2029-2035. https://doi.org/10.1111/crj.12770
Aggarwal, S., Paul, G., Paul, B. S., Mahendru, D., & Goyal, S. (2021). Factors Affecting Adherence to Pharmacotherapy in Parkinson's Disease. Ann Indian Acad Neurol, 24(6), 879-884. https://doi.org/10.4103/aian.AIAN_143_21
Ahmed, R. E., Bdair, I. A., Al-Mugheed, K., Alshahrani, S. H., Alalyani, M. M., Ramaiah, R., Abdelrahman, S. I., Mahmoud, S. A., & Arrab, M. M. (2023). Empowering Self-Efficacy by Using Patient Empowerment among Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Pre-Post-Test Study. Healthcare (Basel), 11(3). https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11030430
Sigma Membership
Theta Tau
Type
Presentation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Other
Research Approach
Other
Keywords:
Pulmonary Hypertension, Treatment Adherence, Pulmonary Hypertension Treatment
Recommended Citation
Wilson, Justin; Cox, Jill; and Btoush, Rula, "Understanding Treatment Adherence among Patients with Pulmonary Hypertension" (2026). Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE). 26.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/chwe/2024/presentations_2024/26
Conference Name
Creating Healthy Work Environments
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Washington, DC, USA
Conference Year
2024
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record. All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository. All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Date of Issue
2026-02-16
Understanding Treatment Adherence among Patients with Pulmonary Hypertension
Washington, DC, USA
Several effective treatment options are currently available for patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH), including pharmacologic therapies such as breakthrough prostacyclin infusions, the use of durable medical equipment’s, and a myriad of lifestyle modifications. In spite of the availability of these treatment options, many patients remain unsure about their disease and the regular use of recommended treatment. Treatment adherence is defined as the extent to which a person's medication taking behavior, diet, and lifestyle changes corresponds with agreed health care providers recommendations (Burkhart & Sabaté, 2003). Even though a plethora of research has addressed treatment adherence among patients with various diagnoses, little is known about this phenomenon among patients with PH. This presentation proposes an integrative conceptual framework to understand treatment adherence among patients diagnosed with PH based on the Health belief Model and the Theory of Planned Behavior. The presentation also provides a critical review of the literature around this phenomenon by addressing five major dimensions. The first dimension includes the effect of social demographic and illness characteristic on treatment adherence. For example, studies reported lower treatment adherence levels among patients with PH who are younger, of lower socioeconomic status, with mild to moderate disease severity, and have comorbid health conditions. The second dimension is patient's beliefs that affect health behaviors, including patient perceptions around illness severity, treatment effectiveness, barriers to treatment, and motivation/ cues to action. The third dimension includes the impact of self-efficacy on treatment adherence, which has not been examined specifically among patients with PH but has been documented in the literature to positively impact health behaviors. The fourth focuses on subjective norms, which includes social support and provider communications. Studies have shown that treatment adherence is higher among patients with higher level of social support in the form of a spouse, caregivers, support groups, etc. In addition, healthcare providers play a critical role in promoting treatment adherence through the quality of their communication and the provision of clear and strong treatment recommendations. The fifth dimension focuses on access to care factors that impact treatment adherence among patients with PH. These include having insurance, having primary care provider, and having access to PH specialty healthcare services. Based on the proposed integrative conceptual framework and the review of the existing studies, implications for future research include the need for studies to examine the effect of socio-demographic and illness characteristics, patient believes, self-efficacy, subjective norms, and access to care among patients with PH on the treatment adherence. Such research is needed to guide the development of intervention strategies to improve patient adherence and to informed clinicians on ways to address their patient needs.
Description
Several effective treatment options are currently available for patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH).In spite of the available treatment options, many patients remain unsure about their disease and recommended treatment. Little is known about treatment adherence among patients with PH. This presentation proposes an integrative conceptual framework to understand treatment adherence.