Patients’ Medication Taking Behaviours: Critiques of Relevant Terminologies

Abstract

Various terms describing patient’s behavior regarding adherence tomedication use have been a subject for debate internationally.Problems in relation to this terminology issue are identified as: 1)variation of terminologies used in research literature; 2) variation ofdefinitions of the terminologies; 3) only one terminology in Thailanguage used for this patient’s behavior compared to those used inEnglish. Researchers or healthcare professionals should be able tounderstand differences and similarity of these terminologies tochoose appropriate terminologies in research on drug use.Furthermore, the terminology and its definitions should be statedexplicitly in academic articles which would allow readers tounderstand research contexts and be able to compare study results.Keywords: drug-related problems, compliance, adherence,concordance