Family Social Support Perceptions and Medication Adherence among Elderly Diabetics in a Tertiary Health Institution in Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: The perception of family support is pivotal in improving the health and wellbeing of elderly individuals through adherence to medication especially among diabetics. This study investigated the relationship between perceptions of family social and medication adherence among elderly diabetic patients attending the outpatient clinics of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). Methodology: This was a cross sectional, hospital-based study carried out among 199 randomly selected elderly diabetic patients receiving care in LUTH. Data including sociodemographic information, medication use, and procurement were obtained using an interviewer-administered semi-structured questionnaire. Perceived family social support was assessed and scored using the Perceived Social Support from Family Scale (PSS-Fa) and categorized as ‘strong’ (scores ≥ 11), ‘weak’ (scores 7-10) and ‘none’(scores≤6) while medication adherence was measured using the Morisky medication adherence scale (MMS-8). Medication adherence was rated high (score = 8), medium (scores= 6–7) and low (scores≤5). Association between perceived support and medication adherence was investigated by Chi-square test. Level of significance was p-value<0.05. Results: The mean age of the participants was 68.6 ± 6.7 years. The proportion of the participants who had strong, weak and no perceived family support were 92.5%, 3.5% and 4.0% respectively. Over two-thirds of participants (72.9%) reported family as responsible for providing funds to procure their medications while almost a quarter (23.6%) bought their medications by themselves. Only 2 (1.0%) participants relied on medical insurance to procure their medications. Almost half (49.7%) of them had high levels of medication adherence. Significant association existed between perceived family social support and medication adherence (ꭓ2 = 7.626; p-value = 0.027). Conclusion: Most participants had strong perceived family social support which was significantly associated with medication adherence. We recommend the routine assessment of family social support when dealing with geriatric patients as can improve medication adherence and ultimately better outcome of care