Affiliations 

  • 1 School of Pharmacy, KPJ International College, Penang, Malaysia. Electronic address: chingsiang9@hotmail.com
  • 2 School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia
  • 3 Faculty of Pharmacy, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Malaysia
  • 4 Faculty of Pharmacy & Health Sciences, University of Balochistan, Quetta, Pakistan
  • 5 UCL School of Pharmacy, Centre for Behavioural Medicine, University College London, London, UK
Value Health Reg Issues, 2018 May;15:161-168.
PMID: 29730249 DOI: 10.1016/j.vhri.2017.12.010

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Low rate of adherence was found strongly associated with patients' beliefs across the studies about chronic diseases with hypertension. A crucial move is needed to bridge the gap between appropriate assessment tools and local hypertensive patients' medication adherence.

OBJECTIVE: To produce a translated version in Malay language of Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ) that was "conceptually equivalent" to the original English version for use in local clinical practice and research.

METHODS: The forward translation process was conducted by two independent professional translators and back translation was done by two other independent translators. A reliability analysis was conducted on 238 conveniently selected hypertensive patients. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to assess test-retest reliability for the randomly selected 40 patients in a period of 2 weeks. Discriminant validity was tested through Necessity-Concerns differential, BMQ subscales, and other parameters.

RESULTS: The overall Cronbach alpha for the internal consistency was good (0.860). The subscales of the BMQ demonstrated adequate internal consistency, with Cronbach alpha value of 0.759 for Specific-Necessity, 0.762 for Specific Concern, 0.624 for General-Overuse, and 0.756 for General-Harm. The ICC was excellent (0.922). Discriminant validity revealed that BMQ Specific-Necessity score was significantly inversely correlated with the systolic blood pressure level. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels (P = 0.038; P = 0.05) were reported to be significantly correlated with the Necessity-Concerns differential, with Necessity score equal or exceeding Concerns score.

CONCLUSIONS: The Malay-translated version of BMQ is a reliable and valid tool to assess patient belief about medication, especially medication adherence among the hypertensive patients in Malaysia.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.