Abstract

EFFECT OF COUNSELLING AIDS ON ADHERENCE IN IHD PATIENTS

Swapnil D. Shah*, Pankti T. Shah, Ruchika P. Sharma, Ishani S. Patel, Mustakim M. Mansuri and Shrikalp S. Deshpande

ABSTRACT

Background: Ischemic Heart Disease (IHD) is the worldwide cause of morbidity and mortality. Adhering to its medications is paramount. Various strategies and interventions have been incorporated but the gap still persists as far as India is concerned. Methodology: A randomized controlled study was carried out from the areas of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. A novel adherence scale was prepared which was filled at baseline and after 2 months and scored with High, Medium or Low adherence. 122 subjects were enrolled based on the eligibility criteria with their prior consent. They were randomly divided into: Group1-Control, Group2-android application, Group3- personal counselling and Group4-both android application and personal counselling. An android application MedTimer was developed and uploaded in Google playstore. Result: The use of counselling aids had a comparable positive effect on increasing adherence level in all groups. The overall adherence at baseline was low (0, 71 and 51 subjects with high, medium and low adherence respectively). After the intervention, 22, 92 and 8 subjects with high, medium and low adherence respectively. Amongst the different groups, G4 had a significant improvement than the other groups. (Confidence interval= 95%, α=5%) Conclusion: Low baseline medication adherence level was improved subsequently using counselling aids. The counselling aids proved to be beneficial in improving the adherence. A combination of conventional and mhealth were constructive. However, the long term effects needed to be explored.

Keywords: Ischemic heart disease, Adherence, Counselling aids.