BACKGROUND: Non-adherence to asthma medications is often associated with poor health outcomes, necessitating a reliable measurement of its extent. Thus, the aim of this study is to assess the reliability of the Medication Adherence Report Scale for asthma (MARS-A) and the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire–Specific (BMQ-Specific) adherence measures among patients with asthma in Ethiopia.

METHODS: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted among adult patients with asthma at a tertiary hospital in Ethiopia from January to May 2024. The MARS-A and BMQ-Specific tools were used to assess adherence and patients’ beliefs about medicines, respectively, while sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, as well as reasons for non-adherence, were obtained through patient interviews and electronic medical records. Descriptive statistics were used to present patient characteristics, and Cronbach’s alpha was calculated to evaluate internal consistency.

RESULTS: The study included 250 patients with a mean age of 53.82 (SD = 13.79) years, of whom 57.2% had well-controlled asthma, and 24.8% were non-adherent to prescribed medications according to MARS-A. According to patient reports, the primary reasons for non-adherence were unaffordability and unavailability of medications. The overall mean (SD) MARS-A score was 4.60 (0.43). The MARS-A and BMQ-Specific instruments were found to be reliable, with Cronbach’s alphas of 0.904 and 0.961, respectively.

CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that the Amharic versions of the MARS-A and BMQ-Specific are reliable instruments for assessing medication adherence and beliefs about medicines among Ethiopian patients with asthma.

KEYWORDS: Asthma, Adherence to medication, Ethiopia, Reliability, MARS-A, BMQ-Specific