The DOI matches its Crossref record; 68 of the 69 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Resisting medicines: a synthesis of qualitative studies of medicine taking
Abstract
The study aimed to synthesise qualitative studies of lay experiences of medicine taking. Most studies focused on the experience of those not taking their medicine as prescribed, with few considering those who reject their medicines or accept them uncritically. Most were concerned with medicines for chronic illnesses. The synthesis revealed widespread caution about taking medicines and highlighted the lay practice of testing medicines, mainly for adverse effects. Some concerns about medicines cannot be resolved by lay evaluation, however, including worries about dependence, tolerance and addiction, the potential harm from taking medicines on a long-term basis and the possibility of medicines masking other symptoms. Additionally, in some cases medicines had a significant impact on identity, presenting problems of disclosure and stigma. People were found to accept their medicines either passively or actively, or to reject them. Some were coerced into taking medicines. Active accepters might modify their regimens by taking medicines symptomatically or strategically, or by adjusting doses to minimise unwanted consequences, or to make the regimen more acceptable. Many modifications appeared to reflect a desire to minimise the intake of medicines and this was echoed in some peoples' use of non-pharmacological treatments to either supplant or supplement their medicines. Few discussed regimen changes with their doctors. We conclude that the main reason why people do not take their medicines as prescribed is not because of failings in patients, doctors or systems, but because of concerns about the medicines themselves. On the whole, the findings point to considerable reluctance to take medicine and a preference to take as little as possible. We argue that peoples' resistance to medicine taking needs to be recognised and that the focus should be on developing ways of making medicines safe, as well as identifying and evaluating the treatments that people often choose in preference to medicines.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“Meta-ethnography, an approach in which there has been recent significant activity and innovation, has similarly been used solely to synthesise qualitative studies, and has typically been used only with small samples [9-11].”
From Conducting a critical interpretive synthesis of the literature on access to healthcare by vulnerable groups (2006) · cites this paper as [9]
In the citing paper
“However, this had previously only been used to synthesise qualitative studies.”
From Conducting a critical interpretive synthesis of the literature on access to healthcare by vulnerable groups (2006) · cites this paper as [9]
In the citing paper
“there is an important body of research recognising that people are actively involved in making meaning of their medication use and that this has implications this has for the value it has in their lives”
From ‘In my life antidepressants have been…’: a qualitative analysis of users’ diverse experiences with antidepressants (2016) · cites this paper as [9]
Citations
Cites
Incidence of Adverse Drug Reactions in Hospitalized Patients: A Meta-analysis of Prospective Studies
Lazarou, J., Pomeranz, B. H., & Corey, P. N. (1998) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.279.15.1200 · Cited by 4,807
Unconventional medicine in the United States-Prevalence, costs, and patterns of use
Eisenberg, D. M., Kessler, R. C., Foster, C., Norlock, F. E., Calkins, D. R., & Delbanco, T. L. (1993) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejm199301283280406 · Cited by 4,177 · cited 3×
“7 billion on alternative health treatments in the same year (Eisenberg et al., 1993).”
BackgroundInfluentialMeta-Ethnography: Synthesizing Qualitative Studies
Noblit, G. W., & Hare, R. D. (1988) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 2,191
Patient adherence to treatment: three decades of research. A comprehensive review
Vermeire, E., Hearnshaw, H., Royen, P. V., & Denekens, J. (2001) · Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics · doi:10.1046/j.1365-2710.2001.00363.x · Cited by 1,833
Interventions to Enhance Patient Adherence to Medication Prescriptions: Scientific Review
McDonald, H. P., Garg, A. X., & Haynes, R. B. (2002) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.288.22.2868 · Cited by 1,176
Using meta ethnography to synthesise qualitative research: a worked example
Britten, N., Campbell, R., Pope, C., Donovan, J., Morgan, M., & Pill, R. (2002) · Journal of Health Services Research & Policy · doi:10.1258/135581902320432732 · Cited by 1,110
Self-citationCampbell, R., Pound, P., Pope, C., Britten, N., Pill, R., Morgan, M., & Donovan, J. (2003) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/s0277-9536(02)00064-3 · Cited by 921
Self-citationThe meaning of medications: Another look at compliance
Conrad, P. (1985) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/0277-9536(85)90308-9 · Cited by 838
Patient non-compliance: Deviance or reasoned decision-making?
Donovan, J. L., & Blake, D. R. (1992) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/0277-9536(92)90206-6 · Cited by 785
Prevalence of use of complementary/alternative medicine: a systematic review.
Ernst, E. (2000) · PubMed · Cited by 491
Flagged first, then by citations
1 of the 69 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- Ernst, 2000, Prevalence of use of complementary/alternative medicine, Bulletin of the World Health Organisation, 78, 252
- Halkitis, 1999, Self-strategies as means of enhancing adherence to HIV antiretroviral therapies, Journal of the New York State Nurses Association, 30, 22
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Tong, A., Sainsbury, P., & Craig, J. (2007) · International Journal for Quality in Health Care · doi:10.1093/intqhc/mzm042 · Cited by 42,509
Enhancing transparency in reporting the synthesis of qualitative research: ENTREQ
Tong, A., Flemming, K., McInnes, E., Oliver, S., & Craig, J. (2012) · BMC Medical Research Methodology · doi:10.1186/1471-2288-12-181 · Cited by 3,569
“Syntheses of qualitative research can pull together data across different contexts, generate new theoretical or conceptual models, identify research gaps, inform the development of primary studies, and provide evidence for the development, implementation and evaluation of health interventions [2-9].”
BackgroundSystematic reviews: CRD's guidance for undertaking reviews in health care
Tacconelli, E. (2010) · The Lancet Infectious Diseases · doi:10.1016/s1473-3099(10)70065-7 · Cited by 3,270
Interventions for enhancing medication adherence
Nieuwlaat, R., Wilczynski, N., Navarro, T., Hobson, N., Jeffery, R., Keepanasseril, A., Agoritsas, T., Mistry, N., Iorio, A., Jack, S., et al. (2014) · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1002/14651858.cd000011.pub4 · Cited by 2,945
Methods for the synthesis of qualitative research: a critical review
Barnett-Page, E., & Thomas, J. (2009) · BMC Medical Research Methodology · doi:10.1186/1471-2288-9-59 · Cited by 2,386
Metadata
- Authors
- Pound, P., Britten, N., Morgan, M., Yardley, L., Pope, C., Daker-White, G., & Campbell, R.
- Affiliations
- University of Bristol (GB)
- University of Exeter (GB)
- University of Southampton (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Campbell, Rona
- Venue
- Social Science & Medicine
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2005-07
- Volume
- 61
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 133-155
- ISSN
- 0277-9536 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2103844098
- Cited by
- 868
- References
- 69
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 39 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 45 · 2020: 30 · 2019: 69 · 2018: 37 · 2017: 56 · 2016: 51 · 2015: 47 · 2014: 71 · 2013: 56 · 2012: 48
- FWCI
- 31.17
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Social Science & Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- ePrints Soton (University of Southampton) (submittedVersion)
- Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion)
- Research Explorer (The University of Manchester) (submittedVersion)
- Bristol Research (University of Bristol) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Family Practice › Medication Adherence and Compliance
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Patient-Provider Communication in Healthcare
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Pharmacy and Medical Practices
- Keywords
- non-compliance, chronic disease, adverse drug reactions, symptom masking, non-pharmacological treatment, patient-physician communication, drug safety
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Pharmaceutical Preparations, Evaluation Studies as Topic, Female, United Kingdom, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Patient Compliance, Self Administration, Treatment Refusal, Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
