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. 2014;18(6):745-53.
doi: 10.1080/13607863.2013.875126. Epub 2014 Jan 13.

Event-based prospective memory is independently associated with self-report of medication management in older adults

Steven Paul Woods  1 , Michael Weinborn, Brenton R Maxwell, Alice Gummery, Kevin Mo, Amanda R J Ng, Romola S Bucks
Affiliations

Event-based prospective memory is independently associated with self-report of medication management in older adults

Steven Paul Woods et al. Aging Ment Health. 2014.

Abstract

Background: Identifying potentially modifiable risk factors for medication non-adherence in older adults is important in order to enhance screening and intervention efforts designed to improve medication-taking behavior and health outcomes. The current study sought to determine the unique contribution of prospective memory (PM) (i.e. 'remembering to remember') to successful self-reported medication management in older adults.

Methods: Sixty-five older adults with current medication prescriptions completed a comprehensive research evaluation of sociodemographic, psychiatric, and neurocognitive functioning, which included the memory for adherence to medication scale (MAMS), prospective and retrospective memory questionnaire (PRMQ), and a performance-based measure of PM that measured both semantically related and semantically unrelated cue-intention (i.e. when-what) pairings.

Results: A series of hierarchical regressions controlling for biopsychosocial, other neurocognitive, and medication-related factors showed that elevated complaints on the PM scale of the PRMQ and worse performance on an objective semantically unrelated event-based PM task were independent predictors of poorer medication adherence as measured by the MAMS.

Conclusions: PM plays an important role in self-report of successful medication management among older adults. Findings may have implications for screening for older individuals 'at risk' of non-adherence, as well as the development of PM-based interventions to improve medication adherence and, ultimately, long-term health outcomes in older adults.

Keywords: adherence; episodic memory; geropsychology; neuropsychological assessment.

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Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

None.

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