Volunteering, albeit energy and time-consuming, may contribute to a greater sense of balance for people in the workforce, which might, in turn, positively influence health.
BackgroundIt is estimated that 50–70% of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are non-adherent to their recommended treatment. Non-adherent patients have a higher risk of not reaching an optimal clinical outcome. We explored factors associated with nonadherence from the patient’s perspective.MethodsFour hundred and fifty-nine RA patients (346 (75.4%) females; mean age 63.0 ± 14.8 years) who failed to attend follow-up visits in two rheumatology centres were eligible to participate in a qualitative interview study. We used this strategy to identify patients who were potentially non-adherent to medicines and/or non-pharmacological interventions. By means of meaning condensation analysis, we identified new and some already well known insights to factors associated with non-adherence. We used the capability, opportunity, and motivation model of behaviour (COM-B) model as a frame of reference to classify the factors.ResultsForty-three of 131 patients (32.8%) who agreed to participate in the qualitative interviews were found to be non-adherent. New insights on factors associated with non-adherence included strong opinions of patients, such as pain being considered as an indicator of hard work and something to be proud of, or inflammation being a natural process that should not be suppressed; feeling not to be in expert’s hands when being treated by a physician/health professional; the experience of excessive self-control over the treatment; and rheumatologists addressing only drugs and omitting non-pharmacological aspects. The COM-B model comprehensively covered the range of our findings.ConclusionsThe new insights on factors associated with non-adherence allow a better understanding of this phenomenon and can substantially enhance patient care by helping to develop targeted interventions.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13075-018-1732-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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