gms | German Medical Science

Background and Purpose: For the “correct” intake of drugs a variety of skills and knowledge are necessary, which are subsumed under the term drug self-management. Bailey et al. (2013) have developed a fist descriptive model. The aim now is to create a basis for the development of a consulting concept for the improvement of drug self-management through the empirical deepening of the model.

Methods: The methodological approach is based on the idea of interlocking different sets of knowledge. Together with patients and nursing experts, a semi-structured questionnaire on drug self-management based on the model of Bailey et al. Was developed and validated. The data were collected via the Privatklinik Rudolfinerhaus, pensioner clubs, self-help groups and through snowball system. Fordata analyses , open and axial coding was used.

Results: The average age of the participants (n= 447) is 63, the average number of medications taken daily is 4.5. The process itself is more differentiated than previously described. Factors such as health behavior, the illness or the social environment have a major impact on drug self-management. The steps have been extended by an additional (reacting). “Understanding” is no longer seen as an isolated component, but as a superordinate factor that acts on “get”, “ingestion”, “self-observation” and “react”. The experience leads to the integration into the everyday life and requires the maintenance.

Conclusions: As the model now shows, it has strong links to the health literacy model (Sörensen, 2012). It is a good basis for the development of counseling processes and for assessment and evaluation procedures.