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Trial Lecture – time and place
See Trial Lecture.
Adjudication committee
- First opponent: Professor Helge Skirbekk, Oslo Metropolitan University,
- Second opponent: Associate professor Karin Skov, Aarhus University,
- Third member and chair of the evaluation committee: Professor Anne Cathrine Staff, University of Oslo
Chair of the Defence
Professor emeritus Geir Erland Tjønnfjord, University of Oslo
Principal Supervisor
Professor emeritus Marit Helen Andersen, OUS - Oslo University Hospital
Summary
This thesis is conducted within the field of kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) and addresses health literacy (HL) and medication adherence. KTRs face significant challenges including lifelong medication adherence, graft care and lifestyle restrictions. Studies have shown decreasing medication adherence the first year after transplantation elevating the risk of rejection and graft-loss. Health literacy studies show that KTRs report challenges in critical appraisal of health information even though they are given a structured information program. Furthermore, patients with challenges in HL have higher risk of being non-adherent. Consequently, a new health communication intervention based on knowledge translation was developed to improve both HL and medication adherence.
The study is single center, non-blinded, randomized controlled study involving 195 KTRs who were included from March 2020 to June 2021 and followed for two years.
The overall aim of the project was to test the effect of ‘KnowMAP’ - a new health communication intervention based on principles of knowledge translation – on health literacy and medication adherence in KTRs.
Main outcomes were HL (HLQ) and medication adherence (BAASIS) at one- and two-years post-transplantation.
Results in the first sub study presents the characteristics that defined the different HL clusters and the baseline levels of HL.
The two other sub studies showed significant differences between groups in multiple HLQ domains, favoring the intervention group. While the pattern of improvement varied between the 12-month and 24-month follow-up periods, the overall trend favored the intervention group. Additionally, the two-year results revealed a significant difference in medication adherence between groups, further supporting the long-term effectiveness of the intervention.
In conclusion, using cluster analysis of HL in KTRs provided valuable insights into the profiles of patients representing the different clusters.
The health communication intervention demonstrated significant positive effects on HL outcomes after 12 and 24 months and notable enhancements in medication adherence compared to the control group after 24 months.
Additional information
Contact the research support staff.