Scoping Review on Health Literacy and Its Effect on Medication Adherence in Chronic Disease Patients

Abstract

Health literacy (HL) is an important aspect of various literacies in the field of health and education. Medication adherence is important for effective treatment regimens and managing several health conditions.Scoping review was conducted to define health literacy and its effects on medication adherence among chronic disease.Articles from PubMed and Google Scholar with selected keywords were selected for review.Inclusion criteria were adults aged 18 and above with chronic diseases in the community.Data was collected and reviewed by two researchers. All included articles were summarized to understand the relationship between health literacy and medication adherence among patients with chronic diseases. A total of 13 out of 18153 articles were found and included in this review. Three articles defined health literacy, and ten articles were reviewed for the correlation between health literacy and medication adherence in patients with chronic diseases. Out of the ten articles, four focused on nonspecific chronic diseases, three on type 2 diabetes mellitus, and three on hypertension. Understanding health literacy's definition can affect medication adherence. Health literacy together with medication adherence can be affected naturally, and interventions are necessary to improve them. Individual differences also play a role in health literacy and medication adherence.The relationship between health literacy and also medication adherence heavily affects individuals with chronic diseases.