Medication adherence is a formidable challenge for the elderly who may have several prescribed medications while dealing with limited incomes and declining health. The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate the Liberty 6000, an automated capsule and tablet dispenser that provides proper medication dosages and is intended to encourage and track medication adherence. Seven focus groups were assembled; these comprised 49 men and women ages 65 to 98 years of Black, Anglo, and Hispanic descent who met the following criteria: living independently or semi-independently, had suffered one or more impairments, and were taking at least three prescription medications. Each focus group session lasted 90 minutes and was tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim, resulting in about 2,600 lines of text. Each question was designed to be open-ended to avoid introducing any bias that might influence the response. The Health Belief Model conceptually guided the study that addressed perceptions of illness susceptibility and severity, barriers, benefits, and cues to action associated with medication adherence. Main benefits of taking medications included avoiding inherited illnesses (or tendencies for illnesses), and reducing illness symptoms. Barriers to taking medications included forgetting, dexterity problems, and high cost. Benefits of the proposed intervention included reminding, caregiver notification, …

This study is a multi-method, two-city, intensive, in-depth qualitative study of Huntington's disease (HD) caregivers (HDCs) in Colombia. I explored the Colombia HDCs' experience through the Hispanic culture of caring. I develop the theory of the subrogate agency based on 5 functional stages of HD from Shoulson and Fanh (1979). This study was conducted in two different regions of Colombia, Medellin and Juan de Acosta, in which high rates of HD cases have been identified. The data were collected through three methods: (a) 56 interviews with HDCs and 8 with physicians; (b) 28 participant observations of Huntington's disease sufferers (HDSs); (c) 4 interviews and 8 focus groups of 6 members each with HDCs of late HDSs. Human agency is the ability to monitor one's own action. This study showed that the gradual and serious loss of all capabilities in HDSs has a social effect on the HDSs' agency. HDSs' survival depends on the subrogation that the HDC offers to the HDS. The HDS retains self-hood, i.e. agency, through the HDC's action. This subrogation causes a paradoxical consequence, resulting in both negative and positive effects on the caregiver. The theory of surrogate agency is supported by the data. Through the progressive …