Introduction:

Treatment adherence is crucial in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) to prevent relapses and complications. In Mexico, there is not a validated tool to assess adherence in patients with IBD.

Objective:

To translate the beliefs about medicines questionnaire (BMQ) and self-efficacy for appropriate medication use scale (SEAMS) instruments, as well as to determine their validity, reliability and sensitivity in IBD-diagnosed Mexican patients.

Method:

After informed consent was obtained, 149 IBD-diagnosed patients were included. The instruments were translated into Spanish and were subsequently applied during medical consultation. For SEAMS, exploratory factorial analysis and ROC curve analysis were carried out and Cronbach’s alpha was determined; for the BMQ, Cohen’s kappa coefficient and its predictive capacity were employed.

Results:

Seventy-five women (50.3%) were included, with an average age of 44 years. The SEAMS scale showed a single factor that was highly reliable (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.92) and a cutoff point of 33 to identify adherent patients. The “adherence” and “recall barrier” dimensions of the BMQ were adequate adherence predictors.

Conclusions:

The SEAMS and BMQ Spanish versions are valid for measuring self-efficacy and barriers to pharmacological treatment adherence in Mexican patients with IBD.