Table 2.

Key Themes and Supplemental Quotes

Themes and subthemes	Patient quote	Caregiver quote
Perceived effectiveness
Subjective improvement in symptoms	“I do not take many, but my choice in when I would take them is particularly symptomatic issues.”	“Just as long as it’s [medication] making the person’s life livable, they can function during the day … help them feel … I say 80 to 90% better.”
Objective improvements in clinical values	“I have high blood pressure but it’s under control … I know it skyrockets if I do not take the medications.”	“My husband takes … one for blood pressure … and that’s tested every time he goes into the doctor’s office.”
Disease prevention	“I took it because I did not want to have stroke or something.”	“I think if the medication is being prescribed … to prevent something that the person may be at risk for but does not pose many risks or harms to the patient, then it’s worth taking.”
Adverse effects on quality of life
Severity of side effects	“As far as myself, I’ll stop taking a medication which I have before when it starts making me get symptoms I did not have before”	“For me it would be if my mom wasn’t present … and she’s miserable, then to me that tells me it’s just not … worth it … she’s not with us mentally, she’s just here; that’s not quality of life.”
Inconvenience associated with administering a medication	“If I had to take it more than twice a day … if you have to remember during the day … I know getting the pills in would not work.”	“My mom was taking a few inhalers … until it got to the point where she could not actually manipulate the inhaler.”
Discomfort associated with administration	“The size of pills. I have trouble … with the huge [pills].”	“I’m thinking about my grandfather’s situation … if his sugar stays too high, then he [will not] heal and that’s how he lost one foot, so he has to take his sugar … it’s very worth it … so that little bit of discomfort for him, well you could take that.”
Impact of cost
	“If my meds ever go to where they were impacting the quality of our life outside of whatever these medical issues should be, yeah it would be too expensive. I do not think I would run my family into debt to pay.”	“You [have] to take care of your necessary bills … I will make sacrifices if I had to go [without] cable … I’ll do what I have to do … if you cannot afford it you just cannot, I’m not gonna go and rob a bank.”
Strong relationship with the prescriber
	“I’d be happy with anyone who’s prescribing if they are listening.”	“A team approach is always best to put all the heads together and kind of decide what works.”