Tida Sottiyotin. Subjectivity and polypharmacy using behavior among the elderly in the southern rural area of Thailand : an ethnographic study of a community in Nakhon Si Thammarat province. Doctoral Degree(Social Sciences and Health). Mahidol University. Mahidol University Library and Knowledge Center. : Mahidol University, 2020.
Subjectivity and polypharmacy using behavior among the elderly in the southern rural area of Thailand : an ethnographic study of a community in Nakhon Si Thammarat province
Abstract:
Elderly health issues is an important challenge that the world faces with the transition into an aging society. Previous studies have shown that the use of polypharmacy among the elderly in the world and the southern rural area of Thailand was increasing and has become the cause of health risks in the elderly. In addition, the increase of leftover medicine and medical expenditure are the empirical problems that occur in the community. The use of polypharmacy among the elderly always was described as irrational drug use or noncompliance behavior. The research objective is to describe subjectivity and behavior of polypharmacy under the context of the life of the elderly in society, culture, and drug distribution system in the southern region of Thailand. Critical ethnography was used in this study. A community in Nakhon Si Thammarat province was used as a research setting and eight elderly people were chosen for in-depth study for 10 months (February to November 2019). The polypharmacy using behavior was divided into eight patterns including continuous use, requesting a spare medication, using the self-adjusting dosage, using other medication together with a prescription, trial use, using medication along with lifestyle modification, using medication along with self-created medication management tools, and sharing of medication with others. The subjectivity of the informant who plays the role of the elderly, patient, and polypharmacy user was found to be diverse, fluid, and frequently changing. Elderly subjectivity was divided into two groups: positive and negative. The polypharmacy in the elderly's everyday life was defined by the etic viewpoint as a normal and reasonable phenomenon, while the behaviors were defined as the difference between health professional viewpoint and family member viewpoint. A large amount of medication that exists in the elderly lives is the result of two forces: the first is social and cultural power that push medication into the lives of the elderly, and the second is the elderly's active agency that is willing to use their received medication by the valuable meaning. The use of polypharmacy among the elderly is reasonable which related to the context of life and the complexity of subjectivity. This study recommends that the implementation of rational drug use policy should be directed by taking into accounts both local sociocultural, medical, and health care cultural context for balanced medication use in the life of the elderly and in promoting the use of medications that are worthwhile in terms of quality of life, clinical results, and economic value.