© 2005 Diabetes UK. Diabetic Medicine, 23, 265–270 265 DOI: 10.1111/j.1464-5491.2005.01778.x Background Intensive control of blood glucose and associated cardiovascu- lar risk factors offers the possibility of reducing the disease burden in people with Type 2 diabetes [1–3]. A major problem in translating this into improved outcomes is non-adherence to medication. Across a wide range of conditions adherence may be as low as 50% [4]. In a Tayside study, less than one-third of patients with diabetes were dispensed their single hypoglycae- mic drug sufficiently regularly to cover 90% of treatment days in 1 year [5]. Intensive treatment regimens will not improve outcomes if prescribed medications are not taken regularly. Although a number of interventions have a limited impact on adherence, for example simplified dosage regimens, self Correspondence to: Dr Andrew Farmer, Department of Primary Health Care, University of Oxford, Old Road Campus, Headington, Oxford OX3 7LF, UK. E-mail: andrew.farmer@dphpc.ox.ac.uk Abstract Aims Identifying patients’ beliefs about taking medication can inform interventions to support medication taking, and their evaluation. We set out to establish the range of these beliefs, and measure the frequency of commonly held beliefs and their cor- relation with intention to take medication and self-reported medication adherence. Methods An exploratory survey among Type 2 diabetic patients aged 40 years or older, registered in general practice, used a questionnaire measuring a range of plausible beliefs about taking and intention to take medication developed from interviews where belief elicitation was guided by the Theory of Planned Behaviour. The Medi- cation Adherence Report Schedule was used as a self-report adherence measure. Results Questionnaires were returned by 121 (61.7%) people. The majority strongly agreed with statements about the benefits of taking medication. Nega- tive beliefs that taking medication would ‘cause unpleasant side effects’ and ‘lead to weight gain’ were held by 24.1 and 13.9% of people, respectively. Beliefs about benefit were strongly associated with intention to take medication regularly. Two beliefs were associated with reduced medication adherence: ‘changes to my daily routine would make it more difficult to take my diabetes medicines regularly’ (P < 0.001), and ‘if I were to take my diabetes medicines regularly this would lead to my gaining weight’ (P < 0.05). Conclusions Use of a theoretical model to elicit and identify common beliefs about taking medication regularly underscores the importance of exploring weight-gain concerns and how to keep taking tablets when routines change. Beliefs associated with intention and taking medication will inform intervention development, implementation and evaluation in randomized controlled studies. Diabet. Med. 23, 265 –270 (2006) Keywords adherence, beliefs, medication compliance, Type 2 diabetes Abbreviations IQR, interquartile range; MARS, Medication Adherence Report Scale; MDQ, Medicines for Diabetes Questionnaire; TPB, theory of planned behaviour Blackwell Publishing, Ltd. Oxford, UK DME Diabetic Medicine 0742-3071 Blackwell Publishing, 2005 22 Original Article Original article Medication beliefs among people with Type 2 diabetes A. Farmer et al. Measuring beliefs about taking hypoglycaemic medication among people with Type 2 diabetes A. Farmer, A.-L. Kinmonth* and S. Sutton* Department of Primary Health Care, University of Oxford, Oxford and *General Practice and Primary Care Research Unit, University of Cambridge, Institute of Public Health, Cambridge, UK Accepted 22 May 2005 Final Acceptance 27 August 2005