Table 2.

Reliability analysis for ARMS-12 items in the study group (n=279)

Question*	Participants scores (mean ± SD)	Item–total correlation	Cronbach’s α if item removed
1. How often do you forget to take your medicine?	17.9±8.1	0.807	0.944
2. How often do you decide not to take your medicine?	18.2±8.1	0.866	0.943
3. How often do you forget to get prescriptions for your medicine?	18.2±8.1	0.875	0.942
4. How often do you run out of medicine?	18.2±8.1	0.851	0.943
5. How often do you skip a dose of your medicine before you go to the doctor?	18.1±8.0	0.886	0.942
6. How often do you miss taking your medicine when you feel better?	18.0±7.9	0.877	0.942
7. How often do you miss taking your medicine when you feel worse?	18.3±8.2	0.640	0.950
8. How often do you miss taking your medicine when you are careless?	18.1±8.1	0.889	0.942
9. How often do you change the dose of your medicine to suit your needs?	18.4±8.4	0.556	0.952
10. How often do you forget to take your medicine when you are supposed to take it more than once a day?	18.1±8.0	0.891	0.942
11. How often do you put off refilling your medicines because they cost too much money?	18.1±8.0	0.812	0.944
12. How often do you plan ahead and refill your medicines before they run out?**	17.5±8.3	0.363	0.962

Notes:

^**Questions reproduced with permission from Kripalani S, Risser J, Gatti ME, Jacobson TA. Development and evaluation of the Adherence to Refills and Medications Scale (ARMS) among low-literacy patients with chronic disease. Value Health. 2009;12(1):118–123. Copyright © 2009 Emory University.²¹

^*This item was reverse-coded, ie, 1 = always, 2 = most of the time, 3 = sometimes, 4 = never.

Abbreviation: ARMS, Adherence to Refills and Medications Scale.