Barriers to medication adherence stem from multiple factors. An effective and convenient tool is needed to identify these barriers so that clinicians can provide a tailored, patient-centered consultation with patients. The Modified Drug Adherence Work-up Tool (M-DRAW) was developed as a 13-item checklist questionnaire to identify barriers to medication adherence. The response scale was a 4-point Likert scale of frequency of occurrence (1 = never to 4 = often). The checklist was accompanied by a GUIDE that provided corresponding motivational interview-based intervention strategies for each identified barrier. The current pilot study examined the psychometric properties of the M-DRAW checklist (reliability, responsiveness and discriminant validity) in patients taking one or more prescription medication(s) for chronic conditions. A cross-sectional sample of 26 patients was recruited between December 2015 and March 2016 at an academic medical center pharmacy in Southern California. A priming question that assessed self-reported adherence was used to separate participants into the control group of 17 “adherers” (65.4%), and into the intervention group of nine “unintentional and intentional non-adherers” (34.6%). Comparable baseline characteristics were observed between the two groups. The M-DRAW checklist showed acceptable reliability (13 item; alpha = 0.74) for identifying factors and barriers leading to medication non-adherence. Discriminant validity of the tool and the priming question was established by the four-fold number of barriers to adherence identified within the self-selected intervention group compared to the control group (4.4 versus 1.2 barriers, p < 0.05). The current study did not investigate construct validity due to small sample size and challenges on follow-up with patients. Future testing of the tool will include construct validation.

Articles you may be interested inEnhanced photoluminescence due to two-photon enhanced three-photon absorption in Mn 2+ -doped ZnS quantum dots AIP Conf. Proc. 1620, 401 (2014); 10.1063/1.4898272 Analysis of ionbombarded and laserirradiated surfaces of ZnS and Zn via twophoton highresolution laserinduced fluorescence spectroscopyPhotoacoustic detection technique is employed to investigate two-photon absorption (TPA) effects in ZnS over a wide frequency range with polarized 5 nsec dye laser pulses. By analyzing the dispersion and polarization dependence of TP A, we find that near the band gap, the TP A in ZnS occurs via allowed-forbidden type one-step, two-photon transitions.

Photoacoustic detection of optical absorption in bulk solids is investigated with sample-transducer configuration using 5-nsec tunable dye laser pulses. The technique is shown to be sensitive for the measurements of nonlinear as well as linear absorption. The analysis of the resonant character of the piezoelectric transducer and the photoacoustic response of solids is also presented.

Using photoacoustic detection technique, we have investigated two-photon absorption (TPA) effects in oriented single crystals, ZnS (hexagonal), ZnO and SrTiO3, with particular attention to the dependence of TPA on the frequency and polarization of the incident laser beam.