Medication‐taking behaviours in chronic kidney disease with multiple chronic conditions: a meta‐ethnographic synthesis of qualitative studies

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To identify behaviours associated with taking medications and medication adherence reported in qualitative studies of adults with chronic kidney disease and coexisting multiple chronic conditions. BACKGROUND: To inform medication adherence interventions, information is needed to clarify the nature of the relationships between behaviours that support medication-taking and medication adherence in multiple chronic conditions. DESIGN: Meta-ethnographic review and synthesis. METHODS: CINAHL Complete, MEDLINE and PsycINFO databases were searched. Five qualitative studies met the inclusion criteria. A meta-ethnographic approach was used for synthesis. Medication-taking behaviours were abstracted from study findings and synthesised according to the contexts in which they occur and interpreted within a new developing framework named the Medication-taking Across the Care Continuum and Adherence-related Outcomes. RESULTS: Twenty categories of medication-taking behaviours occurred in three main contexts: (1) patient-provider clinical encounters, (2) pharmacy encounters and (3) day-to-day management. These behaviours are distinctly different, multilevel and interrelated. Together they represent a process occurring across a continuum. CONCLUSIONS: Future medication adherence research should consider using a multilevel ecological view of medication management. Clinical practice and policy development can benefit from further understanding socio-contextual behaviours that occur across the continuum. Nurses should have greater presence in chronic disease management and be positioned to support the day-to-day home management of patients' medications. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Healthcare professionals can partner with patients to elucidate how these behaviours are enacted across the care continuum and in day-to-day management to identify opportunities to intervene on specific behaviours and promote medication adherence.