Understanding Medication Self-Management at Home Among Older Adults with Coronary Artery Disease: A Qualitative Study.

Background: The medication self-management at home among older adults with coronary artery disease is found suboptimal, leading to discrepancies from the prescriptions. More support is expected to meet their needs in medication self-management. This study aims to understand medication self-management at home of older adults with coronary artery disease. Methods: From June to August 2024, a descriptive qualitative study was conducted among 28 older adults with coronary artery disease and six healthcare professionals. Older adults participated in interviews before and one month after hospital discharge. The healthcare professionals were interviewed once. The semi-structured interviews were conducted face-to-face or through a virtual platform. Thematic analysis was used in data analysis. Findings: Two themes with five sub-themes emerged: 1. Dealing with unknown when starting new regimens: seeking support from healthcare professionals when starting medication self-management, self-information seeking is far from satisfactory. 2. Exploring strategies to support adherence to medications: difficulties in integrating medication taking into daily routine, aids as reminders for medication taking, and requesting help from caregivers. Conclusion: Older adults with coronary artery disease struggled with seeking information to adapt to the new regimens and exploring different strategies to improve their adherence. Future interventions could improve their medication self-efficacy through patient-centred communication and peer education. Offering reliable information resources and improving the capacity to identify the accuracy of online information were important for self-information seeking. Besides, support in medication management aids and involving caregivers in medication management according to their needs were also warranted.