Study of a Scale for Discriminating the Self-Regulation of Medication to Select the Correct Menu of Individualized Medication Consultation.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to establish the methodology of individualized medication consultation. We studied a Scale for Discriminating the Self-Regulation of Medication, which was an instrument of discriminating whether a patient was more likely to do a self-regulation of medication. Items of this scale are composed of principal factors related to self-regulation ofmedication age, degree of understanding common information for medication, and the patient's concept of what is important in taking medicines without anxiety. These items were extracted by multivariate analysis. For this analysis, we interviewed 73 patients. About 85 percent of subjects were discriminated correctly with this scale.This scale enables us: 1) to classify patients according to the discriminant values, where we can select the menu of consultation based on the classification, 2) to understand the reasons why a patient does self-regulation of medication. Consequently, it becomes easier to make an individualized medication consultation plan. To establish and validate this scale, further assessment is needed more in patients with various diseases.