A pill is not only a pill: The social meaning of the elderly's daily medications

Abstract

© 2020, Primrose Hall Publishing Group. Previous studies have shown that the use of polypharmacy among the elderly has been increasing and has become the cause of health risks for the elderly, including higher incidences of adverse drug reactions, increases in sensitivity to drug-drug interactions and a lower total quality of life. In addition, the use of polypharmacy has become a prominent cause of the increase of unnecessary national health costs. This study aims to understand the meaning of drug taking behaviour in the daily life of elderly patients with a focus on their perceptions of the matter. Ethnography and content analysis have been used in this study with the results showing that elderly patients not only use their medications as pharmacological substances but also in a sense involving social meaning. This meaning regards (1) the obligation of elderly users to be good patients, (2) the prerogative of having rights as citizens of the kingdom, and (3) the context of maintaining relationships in health care services, communities, and families. These social meanings of medicines, which were constructed through social discourse, health policies, and socio-cultural systems, could cause the use of polypharmacy in elderly people.