Sifen Jiang,1,2,* Tingyu Luo,2,* Zhuoqi Zhu,3,* Yanling Huang,2 Haopeng Liu,4 Bing Li,2 Suibin Feng,5 Kun Zeng1 

1Science and Education Section, Dongguan Eighth People’s Hospital (Dongguan Children’s Hospital), Dongguan, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Nursing, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 3School of Public Health, Guangxi Medical University, Guangxi, People’s Republic of China; 4School of Public Health, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 5Surgery Department, Dongguan Eighth People’s Hospital (Dongguan Children’s Hospital), Dongguan, People’s Republic of China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Suibin Feng, Surgery Department, Dongguan Eighth People’s Hospital (Dongguan Children’s Hospital), No. 68 South West Lake 3 Road, Shilong Town, Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, 523321, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 13430293807, Email 19526620667@163.com Kun Zeng, Science and Education Section, Dongguan Eighth People’s Hospital (Dongguan Children’s Hospital), No. 68 South West Lake 3 Road, Shilong Town, Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, 523321, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 13790300213, Email Zengkun660524@163.com

Background: The treatment of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) is a protracted and arduous process. Medication, being a universally crucial therapeutic measure, underscores the significance of medication adherence in managing the disease effectively. Medication beliefs have emerged as a significant predictor of adherence, attracting considerable scholarly attention in recent years. However, there remains a paucity of research utilizing individual-centered approaches to explore medication beliefs among the T2DM population during the hospital-home transition, leaving the relationship between these beliefs and medication adherence unclear.
Purpose: To investigate latent categories of medication beliefs among patients with T2DM during the transition from hospital to home, and to analyze variations in medication adherence across these categories of patients.
Patients and methods: Between August 2022 and September 2023, this study selected 304 patients with a pre-discharge diagnosis of T2DM as study subjects from a tertiary hospital in Dongguan City. The patients’ profiles were assessed comprehensively via the Sociodemographic and Clinical Characteristics Questionnaire, alongside the Chinese version of Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire-Specific and Morisky Medication Adherence Scale-8. The present study conducted latent profile analysis using Mplus 7.4 software and analyzed the influencing factors of different medication belief categories and their differences in medication adherence using SPSS 26.0 software.
Results: The medication beliefs of 304 patients were rated at 3.36± 5.24 points, while medication adherence scored 6.23± 1.56 points. The medication beliefs were classified into four categories: moderate necessity - low to moderate concern group (40.13%), high necessity - low concern group (9.54%), moderate necessity - moderate to high concern group (19.08%), and moderate necessity - high concern group (31.25%). Age, monthly per capita household income, and place of residence emerged as influential factors for the four categories. Moreover, the disparity in medication adherence among these categories demonstrated statistical significance (P < 0.001).
Conclusion: The medication beliefs of patients were classified into four distinct categories, and variations in medication adherence were evident across these categories. The high necessity - low concern group demonstrated the highest medication adherence scores, while the moderate necessity - high concern group exhibited the lowest scores. Healthcare providers are advised to tailor personalized medication belief enhancement programs based on patients’ homogeneous beliefs, addressing specific issues encountered by each category. This approach aims to ensure optimal medication adherence across diverse medical and social environments, effectively improving patient prognosis and enhancing quality of life.

Keywords: diabetes mellitus, T2DM, medication beliefs, medication adherence, latent profile analysis, influencing factors