Patient Support Programs are behavioral interventions designed to improve adherence The World Health Organization has identified medication non-adherence as a priority, preventable global healthcare problem made more serious by the socioeconomic conditions in less-industrialized countries. Previous articles in this series discuss patient decision-making, behavioral drivers, and other factors that influence treatment adherence. There are a…

Non-adherence is a major issue that can be addressed by PSPs Non-adherence is a major barrier limiting the benefits of clinically effective treatments. Medications that have proven their potential in clinical trials often do not deliver on that potential in the real world because of non-adherence. The numbers speak for themselves: Adherence rates for chronic treatments…

Validated survey tools are useful for characterizing patient health behavior As we have seen in other articles, chronic diseases are a global public health issue, increasing in prevalence and associated costs. Patients’ self-management behavior, including adherence to therapeutic recommendations, is the greatest single determinant of their prognosis.1Vertigo is a symptom of peripheral or central vestibular…

How do people think about their health? Why do people engage in behavior they know is detrimental to their health? With the emergence of modern public healthcare policy after World War II, healthcare professionals began to examine new ways to understand patient behavior. Queries into patient behavior are at the center of the first systematic,…

Key Messages Vertigo symptoms are a growing burden for healthcare systems worldwide. Changing demographics and lifestyle trends are driving an unprecedented increase in the prevalence of chronic conditions, which now affect nearly half of all adults and almost 10% of children worldwide. These diseases pose a significant burden on healthcare systems.1 Low- and middle-income countries…

Key messages: There are many reasons people invoke to explain their medication non-adherence, and often these explanations center around what patients’ individual cost/benefit analysis. Developments in behavioral sciences can shed light on how adherence decisions are made and how providers may influence those decisions for the better. Rational Econs and Irrational Humans do not have…

Key messages: As described in the previous articles in this series, <<Two systems of thought: Why “rational” people make “irrational” choices >>, the mind has two systems of thinking: System 1 and System 2. System 1 is immediate and spontaneous; System 2 is reflective and conscious but requires cognitive effort and is used less frequently.…

Key Messages Treatment adherence offers a significant opportunity for improved outcomes Characterizing the nature of vertigo treatment non-adherence is challenging given the number of underlying conditions and treatments associated with vertigo. In the narrowest sense, vertigo is caused by peripheral or central vestibular disorders, and common examples of these include benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV)…