Introduction: Medication hoarding describes a persistent difficulty of discarding or parting with medications that are no longer useful. This behavior can result in mis-dosing and inappropriate sharing, leading to adverse consequences (Sorenson, 2005). Previous research has found correlations between medication savings behavior, hoarding, and medication adherence (Warren et al., 2019; VanDyke et al., 2018), but these studies did not include subgroup analyses. In this study, we explore whether the patterns obtained from previous research extend to two racial subgroups.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional study using the same dataset as the aforementioned research. The dataset consisted of 119 dyads, comprising a female caregiver taking care of older family members. Participants were split into two groups including Black (n=30) and non-Black (n=89). For each group, correlations were examined between scores from the Adherence to Refills and Medications Scale, Hoarding Rating Scale and Savings Inventory Revised Composite, and Medication Saving Behavior questionnaire. Regression analyses were then used to compare these relationships across the groups.
Results: For both groups, significant correlations were found between adherence and medication savings behavior (rs >0.42) and between medication savings behavior and hoarding (rs >0.34). However, significant correlations between adherence and hoarding only appeared for those who did not identify as Black (r=0.59) but not for those who identified as Black (r=0.15). Although this difference is not significant, these results may not be reliable. We need 337 participants to find a correlation of 0.15 significant with an alpha of 0.05 and a beta of 0.20, but our sample of Black participants was only 30.
Impact: By analyzing existing data, policies can be formed to assist affected families. The present findings suggest that needs may differ across races. However, they do not reveal what services could be developed or how they could be delivered, so we recommend conducting mixed-method or qualitative research to understand how or in what ways to help families struggling with medication hoarding.
Organization: University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy
Lukas SK, Schmidtke KA, Washington TN, VanDyke MM