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The meaning of medications: Another look at compliance

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  • Conrad, Peter

Abstract

Most research on compliance with medical regimens takes a doctor-centered perspective and proceeds from certain assumptions. This paper presents an alternative, patient-centered approach to managing medications, using data from 80 in-depth interviews of people with epilepsy. This approach focuses on the meanings of medication in people's everyday lives and looks at why people take their medications as well as why they do not. I argue that from a patient's perspective the issue is more one of self-regulation than compliance. When we examine 'noncompliance' beyond difficulties with 'side effects' and drug efficacy, the meanings of self-regulation include testing, controlling dependence, destigmatization and creating a practical practice. What appears to be noncompliance from a medical perspective may actually be a form of asserting control over one's disorder.

Suggested Citation

  • Conrad, Peter, 1985. "The meaning of medications: Another look at compliance," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 29-37, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:20:y:1985:i:1:p:29-37
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    1. Bessett, Danielle, 2010. "Negotiating normalization: The perils of producing pregnancy symptoms in prenatal care," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 370-377, July.
    2. Karine Lamiraud & Pierre‐Yves Geoffard, 2007. "Therapeutic non‐adherence: a rational behavior revealing patient preferences?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(11), pages 1185-1204, November.
    3. Pound, Pandora & Britten, Nicky & Morgan, Myfanwy & Yardley, Lucy & Pope, Catherine & Daker-White, Gavin & Campbell, Rona, 2005. "Resisting medicines: a synthesis of qualitative studies of medicine taking," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 133-155, July.
    4. Williams, Kevin Frank, 2007. "Re-examining 'professionalism' in pharmacy: A South African perspective," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(6), pages 1285-1296, March.
    5. Lien, Hsien-Ming & Lu, Mingshan & Albert Ma, Ching-To & McGuire, Thomas G., 2010. "Progress and compliance in alcohol abuse treatment," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 213-225, March.
    6. Paul Ellickson & Scott Stern & Manuel Trajtenberg, 2001. "Patient Welfare and Patient Compliance -- An Empirical Framework for Measuring the Benefits from Pharmaceutical Innovation," NBER Chapters, in: Medical Care Output and Productivity, pages 539-564, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Doran, Evan & Robertson, Jane & Henry, David, 2005. "Moral hazard and prescription medicine use in Australia--the patient perspective," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(7), pages 1437-1443, April.
    8. Gibson, Grant, 2016. "‘Signposts on the journey’; medication adherence and the lived body in men with Parkinson's disease," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 27-34.
    9. Stevenson, Fiona & Knudsen, Pia, 2008. "Discourses of agency and the search for the authentic self: The case of mood-modifying medicines," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 170-181, January.
    10. Webster, Michelle, 2017. "Similarities and differences in the meanings children and their parents attach to epilepsy medications," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 190-197.
    11. Carla F. Rodrigues, 2020. "Self-medication with antibiotics in Maputo, Mozambique: practices, rationales and relationships," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 6(1), pages 1-12, December.
    12. Berry, Brandon & Apesoa-Varano, Ester Carolina, 2017. "Medication takeovers: Covert druggings and behavioral control in Alzheimer's," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 51-59.
    13. Seale, Clive & Chaplin, Robert & Lelliott, Paul & Quirk, Alan, 2006. "Sharing decisions in consultations involving anti-psychotic medication: A qualitative study of psychiatrists' experiences," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(11), pages 2861-2873, June.
    14. Tocco, Jack Ume, 2017. "The Islamification of antiretroviral therapy: Reconciling HIV treatment and religion in northern Nigeria," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 75-82.
    15. Williams, Brian & Steven, Karen & Sullivan, Frank M., 2011. "Tacit and transitionary: An exploration of patients' and primary care health professionals' goals in relation to asthma," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(8), pages 1359-1366, April.
    16. Zhou, Amy, 2016. "The uncertainty of treatment: Women's use of HIV treatment as prevention in Malawi," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 52-60.
    17. Johnson, Blair T. & Acabchuk, Rebecca L., 2018. "What are the keys to a longer, happier life? Answers from five decades of health psychology research," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 218-226.
    18. Holt, Martin, 2007. "Agency and dependency within treatment: Drug treatment clients negotiating methadone and antidepressants," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(9), pages 1937-1947, May.
    19. Natália Helena de Resende & Ursula Carolina de Morais Martins & Djenane Ramalho-de-Oliveira & Dirce Inês da Silva & Silvana Spíndola de Miranda & Adriano Max Moreira Reis & Wânia da Silva Carvalho & S, 2022. "The Medication Experience of TB/HIV Coinfected Patients: Qualitative Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-11, November.
    20. Karine Lamiraud & Pierre-Yves Geoffard, 2007. "Therapeutic non-adherence: a rational behavior revealing patient preferences?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(11), pages 1185-1204.
    21. Wrubel, Judith & Tedlie Moskowitz, Judith & Anne Richards, T. & Prakke, Heleen & Acree, Michael & Folkman, Susan, 2005. "Pediatric adherence: Perspectives of mothers of children with HIV," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(11), pages 2423-2433, December.
    22. Timmermans, Stefan & Tietbohl, Caroline, 2018. "Fifty years of sociological leadership at Social Science and Medicine," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 209-215.
    23. Buus, Niels, 2014. "Adherence to anti-depressant medication: A medicine-taking career," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 105-113.

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