Concordance and children's use of medicines

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Methods Most studies of patient compliance and the health education of children refer to the professional view and address compliance with drug use, usually related to specific disease treatment. Few address the general issue of how to improve compliance (or to create concordance). In spite of some outstanding systematic reviews from the Cochrane Consumers and Communication Group,1–3 few studies have examined patients' perspectives about drugs, and even fewer have studied children. Hopefully, the new Cochrane Qualitative Research Methods Group will address the topic. Of particular value are several international studies supported by the European Union that compared healthy and asthmatic children in their knowledge, perceptions, and expectations about health, diseases, and treatment.4–6 The data presented in this article are based on those sources, and as such represent a review of the literature about children and drug treatment. Acknowledgments I thank Deanna J Trakas, leader of the COMAC, ASPRO I, and ASPRO II research projects,4–6 for her help in correcting the text.