The Experience of Taking Medication to Prevent a Further Heart Attack: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

Background Following an acute myocardial infarction, patients are prescribed a regime of cardio-protective medication to prevent recurrent cardiovascular events and mortality. Adherence to medication is poor in this patient group, and not fully understood. Current interventions have made limited improvements but are based upon presumed principles. Objective To describe the phenomenon of medicine-taking for an individual taking medication for secondary prevention for an AMI. Setting Four participants from the community in the South-East of England, taking medication following an AMI, were recruited from local publicity. Method Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to analyse transcriptions of semi-structured interviews with participants. Main Outcome Measure Themes were generated for each participant, then summarised across participants. Results Five key themes were produced; the participants needed to compare themselves to others, showed that knowledge of their medicines was important to them, discussed how the future was an unknown entity for them, had assimilated their medicines into their lives, and expressed how an upset to their routine reduced their ability to take medication. Conclusion Participants described complex factors and personal adaptations to taking their medication. This suggests that a patient-centred approach is appropriate for adherence work, and these themes could inform clinical practice to better support patients in their medicine adherence.