Medication Adherence, Illness Perception and Quality of Life of Asthmatic Patients in Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

Abstract

Asthma has been identified as one of the diseases that have an impact on the quality of life of patients and family members. This study examined the relationships between the quality of life, medication adherence, and illness perception of asthma patients in Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex (OAUTHC), Ile-Ife. This study adopted the descriptive research design. The population of the study was asthma outpatients of OAUTHC Ile-Ife. Samples of 200 adult asthmatic patients were selected through the purposive sampling technique.  An instrument comprised of Sydney Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ-S), Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire, and Morisky 8-Item Medication Adherence Scale was used to collect data. Data collected were analysed using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient. The results showed a significant relationship between illness perception and quality of life {r (198) = 0.815, p=0.001} and medication adherence and quality of life {r (198) =0.627, p=0.001}. It was further shown that duration of illness (N=200, mean =13.16, SD=7.80) had significant relationship with quality of life of asthmatic patients (N = 200, mean = 69.83, SD = 19.58, {r(198) = -0.170, p = 0.016)..The study concluded that illness perception and medication adherence had significant relationship with quality of life among asthma patients in OAUTHC, Ile- Ife, Osun State.