Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #107280

Betsy Sleath, PhD¹, Elizabeth Jackson, PhD², Kathleen C. Thomas, MPH, PhD³, James H. Galloway⁴, Lisa Dumain, MSW, LCSW³, Joshua M. Thorpe, MPH⁵, and Joseph Morrissey, PhD⁶. (1) School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Beard Hall CB #7360, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7360, 919-962-0079, betsy_sleath@unc.edu, (2) mental health, Cecil Sheps Center for Health Services Research, willowcrest dr, chapel hill, NC 27599, (3) Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 101 Conner Dr. Ste. 302, Willowcrest Bldg., CB #3386, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3386, (4) Pan Lutheran Ministries, PO Box 6446, Raleigh, NC 27628, (5) Pharmaceutical Policy, UNC-Chapel Hill, Beard Hall, CB#7360, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, (6) Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 725 Airport Road, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7590

Purpose: The purpose of our study was to examine whether medical literacy is related to whether women report barriers to taking medication themselves or giving medication to their children. Methods: Women were recruited in eighteen homeless shelters in four counties in central North Carolina. Head of household homeless mothers with psychiatric and/or substance abuse disorders and dependent children were eligible to participate. Trained interviewers administered a site specific questionnaire on medication use. Results: One hundred and sixty-four homeless women participated. Forty-two percent of the women were currently taking a medication. Forty-six percent of women stated that there was a barrier to taking their medication(s) as prescribed. Medical literacy was not significantly related to whether women felt there were barriers to taking a medication. Seventy-five percent of the women reported having one or more children living with them. Thirty-seven percent of the women reported having an asthmatic child live with them and 12 percent reported having a child with attention deficit disorder. Forty percent of women reported a barrier to giving their child a needed medication. Taste was the most commonly reported barrier. Women with lower medical literacy and younger women were significantly more likely to report a barrier to giving their child a needed medication. Over 80 percent of women listed pharmacists as their first or second choice for receiving verbal drug information. Conclusion: Pharmacists can play an important role in helping homeless women with children become better educated about their medications.

Learning Objectives:

• To understand the extent to which homeless women experience barriers to taking prescribed medications.
• To describe the barriers that homeless women face when attempting to give their children needed medications.
• To understand whether health literacy is associated whether women experience barriers in taking medications and giving medications to their children.

Keywords: Homelessness, Medicine

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.