TITLE:
Validation of the 8-Item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale in Chronically Ill Ambulatory Patients in Rural Greece
AUTHORS:
Sotirios Plakas, Dimos Mastrogiannis, Marianna Mantzorou, Theodoula Adamakidou, Georgia Fouka, Angeliki Bouziou, Chrysoula Tsiou, Donald E. Morisky
KEYWORDS:
Adherence, Validation, Chronic Illnesses, Morisky MMAS-8 Scale
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Nursing,
Vol.6 No.3,
March
11,
2016
ABSTRACT: Objective: To validate a Greek version of the structured self-reported 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8) and determine its psychometric properties in patients with chronic illnesses. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in a small public hospital and a public health care centre, in a rural town in western Greece. The sample consisted of 100 patients with various chronic illnesses. Data were collected between January-May 2011, on the Greek version of the MMAS-8 and Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ). Results: Scale’s reliability analysis revealed an overall Cronbach’s alpha of 0.753 and the corrected item to total correlations, were greater than 0.30 for each of the 8 items comprising the medication adherence scale, showing good internal consistency. Convergent validity was supported by a significant correlation between the present scale’s total score and the BMQ-Specific Necessity score (Spearman’s rho = 0.492, p