ArticlePharmacy world & science : PWS2008
Adolescents' struggles with swallowing tablets: barriers, strategies and learning.
Article in Pharmacy world & science : PWS, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Poor-tasting pediatric medicines: Part 1. A scoping review of their impact on patient acceptability, medication adherence, and treatment outcomes.Frontiers in drug delivery · 2025Pooled it
- Older adults with difficulty swallowing oral medicines: a systematic review of the literature.European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2016Pooled it
- Development Strategy and Relative Bioavailability of a Pediatric Tablet Formulation of Ticagrelor.Clinical drug investigation · 2019Trial
- Assessment of Taste and Grittiness of RiometDrugs in R&D · 2019Trial
- Prescribing for the patient and the planet: a pragmatic feasibility study of a behaviour change intervention to reduce liquid amoxicillin prescribing in primary care.Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2026Article
- Evaluation of Suprahyoid Muscle Thickness, Swallowing Anxiety, and Water-Swallowing Performance in Healthy People with Pill Dysphagia: A Cross-Sectional Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Detection and management of pill swallowing difficulties: a community pharmacy-based observational study.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2025Observational
- Embedding of Poorly Water-Soluble Drugs in Orodispersible Films-Comparison of Five Formulation Strategies.Pharmaceutics · 2022Article
- Control of Drug-Excipient Particle Attributes with Droplet Microfluidic-based Extractive Solidification Enables Improved Powder Rheology.Pharmaceutical research · 2022Article
- Article
- Neoteric Approach of Fluoxetine Laden Orodispersible Film for Non-compliant Pediatric Patients of Selective Mutism and Obsessive-compulsive Disorder.Turkish journal of pharmaceutical sciences · 2021Article
- Crushing and Splitting Direct-Acting Antivirals for Hepatitis C Virus Treatment: A Case Series and Literature Review.Open forum infectious diseases · 2021Article
- Functionality and Acceptance of the EsoCap System-A Novel Film-Based Drug Delivery Technology: Results of an In Vivo Study.Pharmaceutics · 2021Article
- A Difficult Pill to Swallow: An Investigation of the Factors Associated with Medication Swallowing Difficulties.Patient preference and adherence · 2021Article
- Article
- Development and content validation of the Pediatric Oral Medicines Acceptability Questionnaires (P-OMAQ): patient-reported and caregiver-reported outcome measures.Journal of patient-reported outcomes · 2020Article
- Barriers to and Facilitators of Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation within a School-Based Integrated Nutrition and Health Promotion Program among Ghanaian Adolescent Girls.Current developments in nutrition · 2020Article
- Toward Improving Medication Adherence: The Suppression of Bitter Taste in Edible Taste Films.Advances in pharmacological sciences · 2018Article
- A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down? A review of strategies for making pills easier to swallow.Patient preference and adherence · 2018Review
- Compounding and stability evaluation of atorvastatin extemporaneous oral suspension using tablets or pure powder.European journal of hospital pharmacy : science and practice · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo explore adolescents' struggles with taking oral medications.
settingCopenhagen, Denmark.
methodSemi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 89 adolescents (33 boys, 56 girls) between the ages of 11 and 20. Adolescents were recruited through four public schools. To identify struggles with taking oral medication, interview transcripts were systematically searched for statements including the terms swallow, chew, crush and eat. Thematic analysis of the identified statements was carried out to reveal dominant themes in the adolescents' accounts.
resultsOver one-third of the adolescents spontaneously provided accounts of the difficulties they experienced with taking oral medications, especially with swallowing tablets. Three themes were dominant in their narratives: barriers, strategies and learning. Barriers experienced by the adolescents involved the medications' properties, e.g. taste. Adolescents developed strategies to overcome these barriers, e.g. crushing tablets. Via a process of learning-by-doing and the acquisition of increased experience and autonomy, many adolescents mastered the skill of swallowing tablets.
conclusionMany adolescents experienced barriers in their attempts to swallow tablets. They developed various strategies to overcome these barriers and gradually mastered taking medicines in a learning-by-doing process.
Indexed as
Identifiers
17594531What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.