The Association Between Medication Adherence and Rational Drug Use Knowledge and Health Literacy in Older Adults Residing in Nursing Homes

Background: Medication adherence is a crucial factor in managing and treating chronic diseases in older adults. Health literacy (HL) skills and rational drug use (RDU) knowledge are important for individuals to make informed decisions about medication adherence behaviours. Aim: This study was conducted to determine the association between medication adherence and rational drug use knowledge and health literacy in older adults residing in nursing homes. Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted with 121 older adults residing in a nursing home in Turkey. The data were collected using the Participant Information Form, the Medication Adherence Report Scale (MARS-5), the Rational Drug Use Scale (RDUS), and The Turkish version of the European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire (HLS EUEU-Q-TR). Results: The mean age of the older adults was 69.92 +/- 6.45 years and 76.9% were male. The mean score of MARS-5 was 21.80 +/- 3.55. Among older adults, 43.8% were found to have inadequate RDU knowledge, 28.9% had inadequate HL, and 46.3% had problematic-limited HL. The RDU knowledge was a statistically significant strong predictor of medication adherence (R-2 = 0.495, p < 0.001). The HL was a statistically significant predictor of medication adherence (R-2 = 0.037, p < 0.05). Conclusion: The study found that medication adherence among older adults residing in nursing homes was moderate, RDU knowledge and HL levels were low, and medication adherence increased as RDU knowledge and HL levels increased.