What Do Seniors Believe About Medication Adherence? A Qualitative Study Among Seniors with Chronic Conditions in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Purpose: This qualitative study elicited beliefs about medication adherence among hypertensive seniors with polypharmacy. Methods: Twenty-one participants aged 60 or older with hypertension and other chronic conditions, with or without their family caregivers, residing surrounding Yogyakarta province, using five medicines or more routinely, were semi-structuredly interviewed by one researcher or one research assistant in January to April 2022. Behavioral, normative, and control beliefs were elicited using an interview guideline which was developed based on the Theory of Planned Behavior approach. Thematic analysis was applied. Results: The participants believed that taking medicines routinely was advantageous because the medicines kept their body in good condition and prevented disease worsening. However, there were concerns about the medications' harmful effects on kidneys, gastric, and the whole body, and that the medicines would not be effective anymore. Prescribers, family, and friends would likely approve of medication adherence. However, non-prescriber doctors, family, and neighbors, mainly those with experience with complementary/alternative medicines, would likely disapprove of medication adherence. Good physical and cognitive function, help from family and technology, mealtime regularity, a simple regimen and easy-to-read medication labeling, and good communication with prescribers were among the facilitators of medication adherence. Physical and cognitive decline, mealtime irregularity, tablets that must be cut before taken, insurance that does not cover all medicines, change in dosage regimen, and hard-to-tear-off medication packaging were among the barriers to medication adherence. Conclusion: Understanding these beliefs yields insights into the health communication approaches to improving seniors' medication adherence.

Equipping pharmacists for delivering pharmaceutical care to seniors: a qualitative systematic review of Asian seniors' social support.

BACKGROUND: Pharmacists must cater to seniors' needs and communicate better in delivering pharmaceutical care. However, pharmaceutical care for seniors is unique since they commonly depend on support from their social environment. Our study aimed to collect perceptions and experiences of Asian seniors regarding social support. METHODS: A qualitative systematic review of peer-reviewed articles between January 2012 and January 2022 was conducted using PubMed, Scopus, Academic Search Complete via EBSCOhost, ProQuest, and Google Scholar. Selected studies were extracted, and thematic synthesis was performed. RESULTS: A total of 23 qualitative studies with diverse rigor were included in this review. Themes that emerged around perceptions and experiences of social support were (1) family orientation, (2) having faith in religion, (3) the importance of the elderly providing support, (4) taboos, (5) elderly self-reliance, (6) elderly fear of being a burden, and (7) differences on perceptions and experiences regarding social support. A discussion on how these results may contribute to pharmacy practice is provided. CONCLUSION: This study reviews the available social support for seniors and highlights its importance for pharmacists.

How to Best Prepare Pharmacy Students for Disaster Management: A Qualitative Study.

OBJECTIVE: This study explores the opinions of academic and practicing pharmacists about ways to prepare pharmacy students for disaster management to enable them to optimize their role in disaster health management. METHODS: Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted for data collection from April through June 2021. The research participants were 9 pharmacists who were involved in disaster management. The interview guide was developed following a comprehensive literature review on disaster management. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: The main themes identified are knowledge of health and disaster management, specific skills in disaster management, positive attitudes toward involvement in disaster management, and appropriate behavior in the face of a disaster, as well as personal readiness and training to achieve competence and readiness. Participants mentioned that special training in soft skills, especially communication and problem-solving, is essential for students. CONCLUSION: Disaster-specific competencies and personal readiness through training can prepare pharmacy students for disaster management. Soft skills such as communication and problem-solving must be the highest priority.

Estimating the Burden of Cancer and Treatment Cost Related to Alcohol Consumption in Indonesia: a Descriptive Study

Background: Alcohol consumption has become one of the most common cancer risk factors after smoking. Nowadays, estimation of the burden of disease attributable to alcohol has become standard in documenting the impact of health problems, but it has been rarely performed in Indonesia. The aim of this study was to estimate treatment cost of cancer related to alcohol consumption among the Indonesian population. Methods: This research design was descriptive with a prevalence-based approach using secondary data. Proportions of cancers were calculated using an alcohol-attributable fractions (AAF) formula. Treatment costs for eight types of cancer were assessed according to average treatment cost per patient from the national universal health coverage database for 2016. Result: The top three AAFs for males were cancers of the pharynx, esophagus and larynx (17.5%, 15.3% and 7.98%, respectively), while in females they were cancers of the esophagus, pharynx and stomach (2.15%; 1.39%; 0.83%). Among the eight types of cancer studied, the highest incidence in males was noted for liver cancer (132 cases) while colorectal cancer was the most common among females (31 cases). Treatment cost for cancers related to alcohol consumption were highest for colorectak cancer followed by laryngeal and liver cancer (116,083, 98,325 and 93,253 USD, respectively. Conclusion: The expenditure for treatment of cancers related to alcohol consumption accounts for about 1.71% of total cancer treatment cost. Since cancers related to alcohol consumption can be considered having an economic impact in Indonesia, it becomes important for the government to control alcohol consumption so that related healthcare expenditure can be minimized.

Health Care Cost of Noncommunicable Diseases Related to Smoking in Indonesia, 2015.

This study aimed to estimate the current prevalence and treatment cost of noncommunicable diseases attributed to tobacco in the Indonesian population in 2015. An epidemiological study was performed. Using the national universal coverage database, we calculated the morbidity and treatment cost of 19 diseases. Proportion of smoking-attributed diseases and treatment costs because of smoking were calculated using smoking-attributable fraction. The study revealed that the morbidity of smoking-related diseases accounted for 991 331 cases, about 21.6% of total cases of chronic diseases in Indonesia. The highest incidences of disease were hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, and ischemic heart disease. The treatment cost of smoking in Indonesia was conservatively estimated to be at least US$2177 million, approximately 2.5% of the 2015 gross domestic product. A majority of the cost was largely concentrated in the male population (US$2164 million). Treatment costs of hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, and ischemic heart disease had the highest cost burden. This study's findings provide scientific evidence about the economic burden of smoking, particularly the health care expenditure covered by the government. This study's evidence is important for informing national public health policy to advocate the health promotion and prevention program.