Adherence to Medical Advice
Medical adherence directly influences the treatment’s results. Non-adherence can cause adverse outcomes. Patients’ non-adherence to medical advice presents a common problem in the health care system.
Medical non-adherence and lack of commitment increase health care costs. Medical non-adherence can source from patients’ misunderstanding of treatment. Complicated medical directions negatively influence patients’ understanding of adherence’s importance for health outcomes. In some cases, patients perceive absence of painful symptoms as rationale to skip treatment. More complicated cases include the patient’s avoidance of new medication and fear of side effects.
Adherence to Medical Advice in Patients with Bulimia
Bulimia is an eating disorder that involves overeating episodes, also called binge eating. Bulimia presents a serious mental health issue that significantly threatens patients’ physical and emotional health. Both bulimia and anorexia involve the aspect of patients’ control of eating. Anorexia nervosa leads to excessive control of eating, causing health issues. Bulimia manifests in patients’ inability to control eating, threatening the health. Medical adherence implies a patient’s ability to control his behavior accordingly to recommendations from professionals. Therefore, adherence to medical advice in patients with bulimia requires additional attention. However, as eating disorders are sourced in mental health issues, patients’ adherence to treatment can be worsened by shame and pressure from other people.
The use of health apps allows patients to overcome shame or guilt in eating disorder treatment, increasing adherence. There are many discussions about the benefits mobile apps for eating disorder treatment. According to Pellek (2021), the self-monitoring component in mobile apps can increase the patients’ adherence as it requires less effort than the pen-and-paper method. Apps provide a significant amount of information on the topic of eating disorders which can educate users about necessary coping strategies. According to Lindgreen et al. (2021), adult patients who had no previous history of treatment for bulimia benefited from the use of mobile apps.
The internet sources for bulimia and eating disorders also allow patients to eliminate shame and guilt during treatment. The results are strongly associated with the web platform’s interface and user experience. Depending on the patients’ age, their experience with the inclusion of web services for self-monitoring can be different. According to Yim et al. (2020), to increase patients’ adherence to medical advice, web platforms and apps should offer an opportunity to embed them in patients’ daily lives. Thus, one of the ways to help patients with bulimia adhere to medical advice is the development and integration of a sophisticated self-monitoring system in the treatment.
References
Beintner, I. & Jacobi, C. (2019). Internet-based aftercare for women with bulimia nervosa following inpatient treatment: The role of adherence.Internet Interventions, 15, 67–75. Web.
Lingreen, P., Lomborg, K., & Clausen, L. (2021). Patient use of a self-monitoring app during eating disorder treatment: Naturalistic longitudinal cohort study.Brain and Behavior, 11(4), 1-12. Web.
Pellek, A. (2021). Eating disorders: How mHealth apps may improve treatment adherence. Psycom Pro. Web.
Yim, S., Bailey, E., Gordon, G., Grant, N., Musiat, P., & Schmidt, U. (2020). Exploring participants’ experiences of a web-based program for bulimia and binge eating disorder: Qualitative study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(9), 1-13. Web.