Overcoming Psychological Barriers to Treatment Adherence: The Case of Antihypertensive Medication

Abstract

The goal of this article is to examine the modifiable psychological causes of adherence to antihypertensive medications and propose a potential approach for studying behavioral interventions to improve medication adherence. This article briefly discusses the importance of antihypertensive adherence and the most prevalent patient-level factors associated with nonadherence. The authors examine psychological barriers to adherence, which are often the causes that are most easily modifiable with person-level interventions. . The article then reviews the work of the Science of Behavior Change Program and the Human Behavior Change Project and discusses how this work can help to develop a standardized, mechanistic approach.

Keywords: Adherence; Barriers; Behavior change; Behavior change technique (BCT); Mechanism; Mechanism of behavior change (MoBC).