Medication belief profiles and associated factors in patients receiving maintenance hemodialysis: a latent class analysis.

Patients on maintenance hemodialysis need to have complicated medication regimens over the long run to help address the issues and comorbid conditions they might have. Medication beliefs are an important factor influencing how patients understand, evaluate, and manage their prescribed treatments. Patients who hold inaccurate or negative beliefs about medications may be less likely to perceive their treatment as necessary and may experience greater concerns about potential adverse effects, which can negatively affect treatment engagement and medication management (, ). Therefore, understanding medication beliefs is important for supporting shared decision-making, patient engagement, and individualized medication management (). Studies have shown that misconceptions about treatment need and adverse reactions can greatly influence the level of compliance among patients, especially when taking prescribed medictaions like insulin in diabetes (). With respect to maintenance hemodialysis, non-compliance with medications continues to be an issue despite the heavy medication load and long duration of treatment (). Studies have proven that patients’ beliefs on medications correlate directly with their perception, usage, and management of prescribed medications, which apply to patients on hemodialysis too (). Nonetheless, very little information is available with regard to distinct belief patterns in patients on hemodialysis and their correlations with patients’ demographics and medications. Latent class analysis (LCA) offers a person-centered analytic approach that enables the identification of unobserved subgroups based on shared response patterns (, ). Rather than assuming that all patients hold similar beliefs about treatment, LCA can be used to identify clinically meaningful subgroups that may differ in their perceptions, concerns, and support needs. Previous studies have applied LCA to explore heterogeneity in health-related behaviors and perceptions in patients with chronic conditions ().