The impact of financial strain on medication non-adherence: Influence of psychiatric medication use

Non-adherence to prescribed medications is a systemic public health concern. Financial strain, the extent to which an individual is unable to afford necessary items, may represent an important factor related to adherence. This study evaluated the association between financial strain and medication adherence as a function of medication type. Participants reporting a daily prescription for psychiatric or other chronic health conditions (N = 231) were sampled from the crowdsourcing website Amazon Mechanical Turk (mTurk). All participants completed measures of financial strain and other individual-difference factors related to adherence. Medication adherence was evaluated using a subjective scale (i.e., ARMS) and past month non-adherence rates. General financial strain showed a modest relationship with subjective scales of adherence, but not past month non-adherence rates. Medication-specific financial strain was associated with greater non-adherence, even after controlling for relevant demographic, socio-economic, and personality factors. Medication-specific financial strain also disproportionately affected individuals taking psychiatric medications relative to those not taking psychiatric medications. These findings emphasize the role that financial strain plays in medication adherence, and in particular, in psychiatric conditions. Future studies could design interventions targeting financial strain to improve clinical adherence, broadly, and psychiatric medication adherence, specifically.