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The impact of health literacy on beliefs about medication in a Dutch medication-using population

  • Pharmacoepidemiology and Prescription
  • Published:
European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Medication beliefs are likely contingent on aspects of health literacy: knowledge, motivation, and competences to access, understand, appraise, and apply health information. An association between medication beliefs and health literacy is expected as they both influence self-management. The aim of this study was to examine the association between health literacy and the beliefs about overuse and harmful effects of medication and to examine modifying effects of age, gender, and number of medications on this association.

Methods

The data were collected using the online “Medication panel” of the Dutch Institute for Rational Use of Medicine. A linear regression model was used to examine the association between health literacy and beliefs about medication and the modifying effects of age, gender, and number of medications on this association.

Results

Respondents with a lower level of health literacy had more concerns about overuse (β adj.= -.174, p<.001) and harmful (β adj.= -.189, p<.001) effects of medication. This study found no modifying effects.

Conclusions

A lower health literacy level is associated with more concerns about the overuse and harmful effects of medication. The results of this study suggest that extra attention should be given to persons with low health literacy level by healthcare professionals, to decrease their concerns about overuse and harmful effects, and improve adherence to self-management behavior.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.

Code availability

Not applicable.

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Funding

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, Heidelberglaan 7, 3584, Utrecht, CS, Netherlands

    B. B. (Boudewijn) Visscher, B. (Bas) Steunenberg & E.R. (Rob) Heerdink

  2. Dutch Institute for Rational Use of Medicine, Churchilllaan 11, 3527, Utrecht, GV, Netherlands

    H. (Hanneke) Zwikker

  3. Utrecht University, Division Pharmacoepidemiology and Clinical Pharmacology, Faculty of Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands

    E.R. (Rob) Heerdink

  4. NIVEL (Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research), Otterstraat 118, 3513, Utrecht, CR, Netherlands

    J. (Jany) Rademakers

  5. CAPHRI, (Care and Public Health Research Institute), Department of Family Medicine, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands

    J. (Jany) Rademakers

Authors
  1. B. B. (Boudewijn) Visscher
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  2. B. (Bas) Steunenberg
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  3. H. (Hanneke) Zwikker
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  4. E.R. (Rob) Heerdink
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  5. J. (Jany) Rademakers
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Contributions

Boudewijn Visscher: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, data curation, writing—original draft, visualization, and project administration. Bas Steunenberg: conceptualization, methodology, writing—review and editing, and supervision. Hanneke Zwikker: resources, data curation, and writing—review and editing. Jany Rademakers: conceptualization, methodology, writing—review and editing, and supervision. Rob Heerdink: conceptualization, methodology, writing—review and editing, and supervision.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to B. B. (Boudewijn) Visscher.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht (reference number 9400020192).

Consent to participate

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Not applicable.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Visscher, B.B.(., Steunenberg, B.(., Zwikker, H.(. et al. The impact of health literacy on beliefs about medication in a Dutch medication-using population. Eur J Clin Pharmacol 77, 1219–1224 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00228-021-03105-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00228-021-03105-0

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