The Persian version of the 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8): can we trust it?

Aida Iranpour; Vida Sarmadi; Arshia Alian Mofrad; Seyed Ali Mousavinezhad; Seyedeh Maryam Mousavinezhad; Fatemeh Mohammad Alizadeh; Sina Neshat

doi:10.1007/s40200-022-01047-7

The Persian version of the 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8): can we trust it?

J Diabetes Metab Disord. 2022 May 23;21(1):835-840. doi: 10.1007/s40200-022-01047-7. eCollection 2022 Jun.

Authors

Aida Iranpour¹, Vida Sarmadi², Arshia Alian Mofrad¹, Seyed Ali Mousavinezhad³, Seyedeh Maryam Mousavinezhad⁴, Fatemeh Mohammad Alizadeh⁵, Sina Neshat²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
² Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, 81746- 73461 Isfahan, Iran.
³ Student Research Committee, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran.
⁴ Student Research Committee, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran.
⁵ Gilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran.

Abstract

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common serious health problem. Medication adherence is a crucial determinant of therapeutic success in patients with diabetes mellitus. This study aims to examine the 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8) psychometric properties among diabetic patients.

Methods: This study was carried out at the Internal Medicine clinic of Firooz Abadi Hospital in Tehran, Iran, from 2018 to 2020. The English version of the MMAS-8 was translated into Persian and administered to patients with diabetes mellitus. A total of 150 patients who had diabetes were included. Cronbach's alpha was calculated to assess the reliability.

Results: According to the recommended scoring method, the Mean ± SD of MMAS-8 scores was 4.97 ± 1.92. Good internal consistency was found in our study (Cronbach's α = 0.70). Not any significant relationship between MMAS-8 categories and occurrence of complications was found.

Conclusions: The findings of this validation study indicate that the Persian version of the MMAS-8 is a reliable measure of medication adherence, but it has not acceptable validity. Further studies are needed to reach a good validity.

Keywords: Adherence; Iran; Morisky scale; Persian; Type 2 diabetes; Validation.