Investigating the Role of Social Networks in Antidepressant Medication Initiation Behaviors.

TL;DRAbstract

Background: Medication adherence in depression continues to challenge patients and providers. Patients’ social networks are theorized to impact medication use decisions, particularly in patients with depression. Pescosolido (1992) proposed the Network Episode Model (NEM) as a dynamic model that integrates social networks in predicting patient behavior. This model had not yet been studied in medication adherence research. This study examined the influence of social networks on medication initiation desires and intentions in patients with depression. In addition to the effect of social networks, the role of illness perceptions and medication beliefs on decisions to initiate medication was evaluated. Methods: A randomized experimental post-test only study design was utilized. A 2 X 2-factor model was used to create patient scenarios where recommendation agreement between community and professional networks (conflicting versus supporting) and physician’s attitude toward community “lay” net

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