MEDICINES COMPLIANCE AND ADHERENCE

What Factors Affect Non-Compliance and Whether Religion Is a Factor in a Patients Decision To Not Take Their Medicine As Advised

Religion Is as a Factor In A Patients Decision To Not Take Their Medicine As Advised

Religion and science share a complex history as well as a complex present. At various times worldwide? medical and spiritual care was dispensed by the same person. At other times? passionate (even violent) conflicts characterised the association between religion and medicine and science. As interest in alternative and complementary medicine has grown? the notion of linking religious and medical interventions has become widely popular? especially in the USA. For many people? religious and spiritual activities provide comfort in the face of illness. However? as US medical schools increasingly offer courses in religion and spirituality and as reports continue to indicate interest in this subject among both physicians and the general public? it is essential to examine how? if at all? medicine should address these issues (Levin? 1997? 792-793). Here? in a comprehensive? though not systematic? review of the empirical evidence and ethical issues we make an initial attempt at such an examination.

In a recent poll of 1000 US adults? 79% of the respondents believed that spiritual faith can help people recover from disease? % believed that physicians should talk to patients about spiritual faith. Recent articles in such US national newspapers as the Atlanta Constitution? Washington Post? Chicago Tribune? and USA Today report that religion can be good for your health. A new magazine? Spirituality and Health? edited by the former editor of Harvard Business Review? has begun publication. Eisenberg and colleagues? in a widely cited article on unconventional therapies? noted that 25% of all respondents reported using prayer as medical therapy. King and Bushwick reported that 48% of hospital inpatients wanted their physicians to pray with them (Levin? 1997? 792-793).

Within the medical community? there is also considerable interest. Meetings sponsored by the US National Institute of Aging? the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research? and the Mind/Body Medical Institute? Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital? Boston? have drawn large? enthusiastic audiences. Nearly 30 US medical schools include in their curricula courses on religion? spirituality? and health. Of 296 physicians surveyed during the October? 1996? meeting of the American Academy of Family Physicians? 99% were convinced that religious beliefs can heal? % believed that prayers of others could promote a patient's recovery (Levin? 1997? 792-793). Benson writes that faith in God has a health-promoting effect. Larson and Matthews argue for spiritual and religious interventions in medical practice? hope that the “wall of separation” between medicine and religion will be torn down? and assert that “the medicine of the future is going to be prayer and Prozac” (ref 8? p 85). In an American Medical Association publication? Matthews and colleagues recommend that clinicians ask “what can I do to support your faith or religious commitment?” to patients who respond favourably to questions about whether religion or faith are “helpful in handling your illness' (McNichol? 1996? ...