RESUMEN
PURPOSE: This study aimed to determine the impact of MI on self-efficacy, beliefs about medicines and medication adherence among adolescents with asthma. METHOD: This randomized controlled trial conducted on 52 adolescents with asthma referring to the Pediatric Medical Center in Tehran, Iran. They were randomly assigned to the control and intervention groups. The educational intervention consisted of 3 one-hour sessions per week, which was held individually in the areas of medication adherence, beliefs about medicines and self-efficacy. Four validated questionnaires including demographic characteristics, medication adherence, self-efficacy and beliefs about medicines were completed by self-report both before the MI and 40 days after the end of the intervention. RESULTS: In the baseline, the two groups were homogeneous in terms of demographic characteristics and outcome measures. At the post-test, the mean scores of the three outcome measures in the intervention group were reported higher compared to the scores in the control group (p < 0.05). The difference between the mean scores in medication adherence, beliefs about medicines and self-efficacy in the post-test between the two groups, even with the elimination of the effect pre-test scores, were significant (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study showed that MI can be effective in improving medication adherence, beliefs about medicines, and self-efficacy. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: The primary goal in the treatment of patients with asthma is asthma control by using corticosteroids. MI is one of the interventions that can simultaneously provide motivation, readiness, beliefs about medicine and self-efficacy for behavioral changes (medication adherence) in patients with asthma.