Knowledge, Attitude and Behaviours regarding Medication Use in Elderly with Chronic Diseases in Turkey

Physiological changes occurring with aging increase prevalence of chronic diseases in elderly individuals. This situation brings about difficulties in medication use in elderly individuals. This study was conducted to determine knowledge, attitude and behaviours regarding medication use in elderly with chronic diseases.

Participants of this descriptive and cross-sectional study were 124 elderly individuals who were more than 65 years old, applied to Family Health Center in Yalova, Turkey between the dates of January- June 2018. Data were collected with data collection form including individual and disease information, medication use and knowledge, attitude and behaviours regarding medication use. 

Almost half of the elderly individuals (44.4%) expressed that they used medicine three times a day and 40.3% of them expressed that they used medicine six times and more a day. When the information about medication use of elderly individuals is evaluated, 75% of them stated that they did not receive any information on drug use and 82.3% of them did not know the side effects of drugs. When the attitudes of the individuals were evaluated, it was found that 6.5% of them liked to use medication, 67.7% of them had no dose, and 46% of them had stopped using medication without asking the physician. When the behaviors of elderly individuals were evaluated, 19.4% of them didn’t use their medicines regularly, 46% of them discontinued their medication without asking their doctors, 82.3% of them didn’t know side effect of the medicines, 81.5% of them used medicines without doctor’s advice, 79.8% of them didn’t read medicine usage instructions before using medicines, 12.9% of them kept their medicines in their bags and 55.6% of them kept them in a cabinet.

Significant problems such as lack of information about drug use in elderly individuals and self-medication use have been identified.