By Prof. John Weinman, expert-trainer of the Understanding Patient Behaviour & Developing Personalised Solutions course.

In a 3.5 minute interview that we shared in a previous newsletter (click here to view it on our website), Prof. John Weinman talks about the factors that affect non-adherence, of which the behavioural factors are the single most important group of factors.

Part of building a Patient Support Programme (PSP) is ensuring that the psychological drivers of non-adherence are identified and are addressed within a programme. This is usually done with a patient screening questionnaire, the results of which dictates what content the patient should receive and when.

The following are 4 steps of a typical PSP design process aimed at changing a patient’s behaviours, of which the 2nd step will determine the frequency and content of messaging for each individual patient:

1. Patient registers with a PSP through the most appropriate channel.
2. Patient is screened to assess his/her individual needs and beliefs in order to provide a personalised PSP.
3. Implementation of patient interventions, which may include digital support, two-way nurse calls or SMS’s, sharing of patient activity with HCP’s, etc.
4. Outcome measurement and reporting. 

However, an often overlooked element of this process is to realise that the adherence challenges and beliefs of patients can change over time. Therefore it is imperative that when designing a Patient Support Programme, that you capture these changes and adapt the content to evolve with the patient over time.  

Last update: April 2017

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