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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Aging and Public Health
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1358820
This article is part of the Research Topic Using Behavioral Theories to Improve Medication Use View all 5 articles

Continuities and discontinuities in pharmaceutical treatment and medication use among older chronically ill patients of Turkish descent in Germany: a qualitative structuring content analysis

Provisionally accepted
Hürrem Tezcan-Güntekin Hürrem Tezcan-Güntekin 1,2*Rona Bird Rona Bird 3Sema Aslan Sema Aslan 4Yağmur Kul Yağmur Kul 2Özge Azman Özge Azman 3Volkan Aykaç Volkan Aykaç 3Beate Klammt Beate Klammt 5Meryem Aslan Meryem Aslan 6Ilknur Özer-Erdoğdu Ilknur Özer-Erdoğdu 7
  • 1 Alice Salomon University, Berlin, Germany
  • 2 Alice Salomon University of Applied Science, Berlin, Germany
  • 3 Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany
  • 4 INAV Berlin, Berlin, Germany
  • 5 Kompetenzzentrum für antisemitistische Bildung und Forschung, Berlin, Germany
  • 6 Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, Krefeld, Germany
  • 7 g2 Organisationsberatung, Hanover, Germany

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Polypharmacy occurs frequently among older adults and is associated with an increased risk of falls and medication-related adverse events. In particular, people with a history of migration may receive inappropriate medication due to language barriers or discrimination in healthcare. This study aims to assess the continuities, discontinuities and barriers to drug therapy in older migrants of Turkish descent in Berlin, Germany.Methods: 11 problem-centered qualitative interviews with chronically ill older persons of Turkish descent and family caregivers were conducted and analyzed qualitatively by means of structuring content analysis.The chronically ill partcipants of Turkish descent predominantly takemore than 5 types of medication per day and aim to take them regularly. Discontinuities emerge when medication is forgotten or intentionally omitted due to side effects. Frequent changes in medication and physicians' lack of time are relevant barriers to drug treatment plans. To avoid language barriers and disinterest on the part of professionals, respondents prefer Turkish-speaking physicians.

    Keywords: Migration, Pharmaceutical treatment, medication management, Polypharmacy, chronic illness

    Received: 20 Dec 2023; Accepted: 13 May 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Tezcan-Güntekin, Bird, Aslan, Kul, Azman, Aykaç, Klammt, Aslan and Özer-Erdoğdu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Hürrem Tezcan-Güntekin, Alice Salomon University, Berlin, Germany

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.