The combination of action planning and coping planning to improve medication adherence in transplanted patients

Background: Medication nonadherence increases the risk of mortality in transplanted patients. The objective of this study is to test the effect of the implementation intention to improve medication adherence in transplanted patients. Methods: In a randomized control trial, we tested the combination of action planning and coping planning to help patients to take their treatment as the doctor prescribed it. At T1, participants were randomly allocated to a control group (n=27) or to an experimental group to form implementation intentions (n=27). The coping planning helped patients to anticipate barriers to medication adherence whereas the action planning targeted more on memory lapses. Findings: We expect that the participants in the experimental group will score significantly higher on the medication adherence scales after having formed implementation intentions relative to the participants in the control group. Discussion: Showing the effectiveness of action planning and coping planning to improve medication adherence may be an easy way to help transplanted patients to have better health outcomes, without any substantial human and financial costs.