The brief medication questionnaire: A tool for screening patient adherenceand barriers to adherence

Self-report tools for monitoring adherence can be useful in identifying pat ients who need assistance with their medications, assessing patient concern s, and evaluating new programs. The aim of this study is to test the validi ty of the Brief Medication Questionnaire (BMQ), a new self-report tool for screening adherence and barriers to adherence. The tool includes a 5-item R egimen Screen that asks patients how they Book each medication in the past week, a 2-item Belief Screen that asks about drug effects and bothersome fe atures, and a 2-item Recall Screen about potential difficulties remembering . Validity was assessed in 20 patients using the Medication Events Monitori ng System (MEMS). Results varied by type of non-adherence, with the Regimen and Belief Screens having 80-100% sensitivity for "repeat" non-adherence a nd the Recall Screen having 90% sensitivity for "sporadic" nora-adherence. The BMQ appears more sensitive than existing tools and may be useful in ide ntifying and diagnosing adherence problems. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Irela nd Ltd. All rights reserved.