It's MY health care program: Enhancing patient adherence through psychological ownership

Autor: Matthieu Mifsud, Anne-Sophie Cases, Mathieu Molines, Gilles N'Goala
Rok vydání: 2019
Předmět:
Zdroj: Social Science & Medicine. 232:307-315
ISSN: 0277-9536
Popis: Rationale Psychological ownership has profound implications for the ways in which people behave, but this is rarely considered in the health care discourse related to chronic illness (Karnilowicz, 2011). Objective Drawing on psychological ownership theory (Pierce and Jussila, 2011; Pierce, Kostova, and Dirks, 2003, 2001), this article proposes and tests a conceptual model that examines drivers of psychological ownership among patients as regards prescribed care programs. Drivers include patient participation, control, and knowledge of their prescribed program. The model also deals with the impact of psychological ownership on patient adherence behavior (e.g. medical, physical, and dietary adherence). Method A cross-sectional study was conducted in France among a large sample of patients suffering from diabetes (N=502). Results All the proposed drivers significantly affect the sense of psychological ownership. Additionally, our findings reveal that a feeling of ownership is positively related to patient adherence behavior. Finally, our results indicate that psychological ownership drivers can have both direct and indirect effects on patient adherence behavior. Patients who exhibit high levels of participation, control, and knowledge are more likely to feel ownership, which in turn contributes to increased adherence. Our multigroup analysis shows that diabetes type may play a role in the psychological process by which patients perceive the program as their own. Conclusions Our study underlines the key role played by psychological ownership among patients and provides empirical evidence that a sense of ownership enhances patient adherence (in medical, physical, and dietary terms). The findings are discussed with reference to existing literature on health care management and psychological ownership.
Databáze: OpenAIRE