Intending to adhere or to not adhere: results from an experiment in healthy subjects testing illness perceptions and behavioral intentions in asthma.

Background: Although illness perceptions have been theorized to predict medication adherence, evidence has been limited to cross-sectional studies.

Objective: This study evaluated the impact of illness identity, consequence, cause and personal control on medication adherence intentions in healthy subjects exposed to a scenario describing asthma-related illness perceptions.

Methods: An experimental design (2×2×2×2 factorial design) was used to create 16 asthma patient scenarios.