Reference no: EM132247878

Question: A minimum of 75 words each question and References (if needed) (response #1-6) keep response with answer

Make sure the Responses includes the Following: (a) an understanding of the weekly content as supported by a scholarly resource, (b) a relation of the course content to personal or professional experience, and/or (c) the provision of a probing question.

1) However, is adherence simply the practioner's efforts to ensure that patients follow orders? Do you think the patient has any responsibility and might patient responsibility constitute a form of adherence?

2) Patient adherence is the willingness of a patient (or guardian) to follow the directions given by a physician through a prescription. Health-related theories in psychology can be used to predict who will and who will not adhere to medical advice. One example of a health-related theory prediction is because the stronger the pain, the more likely the patient is going to continue taking the medication and follow the directions (Lecture 2). Gender also plays a role in patient adherence as women are more likely to follow directions over men. Socially, persons with more emotional support tend to be more compliant because they have someone to hold them accountable.

3) Improving patient adherence means increasing the number of patients that adhere to the advice of their medical professionals or increasing the degree to which patients follow that advice. Health-related theories in psychology can certainly show trends where some groups of people are more or less likely to adhere to medical advice, but prediction requires more certainty than these theories can provide most of the time. I would say that health-related theories in psychology can give an educated guess as to who will adhere to medical advice. For example, middle aged arthritis patients make more medication errors than older patients, likely because middle aged patients have busier lives than the older patients (Park, Hertzog, Leventhal, Morrell, Leventhal, 1999). To have a middle-aged arthritis patient pick up their prescription and predict that they will be less adherent to the prescription guidelines than the older patient picking up the same prescription would be a logical prediction but there are a lot of other unknown factors that could throw the prediction off.

4) When it comes to illness behavior and sickness behavior there are different in very many ways. Illness behavior can be described as when someone actually needs seek some sort of medical attention. This can be by either some indication or even through diagnosis. Where as sick role behavior can be described as some sort the sheep who cried wolf. I like to think of this one in the case of how we all at least at one time pretended to be sick so we could stay home from school. This can be brought forth by many different factors whether it is by the individual receiving treatment, the doctor, the surroundings, or even how someone was brought up. I know something that brings up illness behavior for me was when i tore my ACL. At first I just got an x-ray and they said there was no broken bones but because there was pain still they suggested a MRI. This showed ligament damage and required surgery. Sick role behavior is something I have seen in a family member who in my opinion is a hypochondriac. Every little thing whether it is a cough or a the slightest sniffle and here comes a doctor visit. Of course there are plenty of other examples, this is how i feel when discussing the two.

5) Illness behavior and sick role behavior are two stages of disease management. People who are sick before they receive the diagnosis of their illness experiences illness behavior. Once a person receives the diagnosis of their illness, they will experience sick role behavior. Illness behavior and sick role behavior are different since one is before the diagnosis and the other is experienced after the diagnosis. A person experiencing illness behavior may not necessarily know what the problem is, but they feel sick. A person experiencing illness behavior knows what the illness is and behaves accordingly ("Lecture 2," 2018, para. 5).

6) Adherence can be improved by changing the patient's perception of cost, concerns, and benefits. (Guerin, 2017)

Medication adherence is important for patients, picking up a prescription, getting prescription refills, and following doctor's instruction and plans about the patient's health issues will help the patient feel better and manage their symptoms.