Exploring the Lived Experience of Polypharmacy Among Patients in Jazan,Saudi Arabia: An Interpretive Description Study

Abstract

Polypharmacy is conventionally defined by a numerical threshold, yet this metric fails to capture the complex, multidimensional burden placed on patients’ daily lives. In Saudi Arabia, despite rising chronic multimorbidity, a critical gap exists in understanding how patients navigate these regimens within the region’s specific healthcare and sociocultural context. This study employed an Interpretive Description approach to qualitatively explore this experience among adults in Jazan Province. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with a maximum-variation sample of 19 adults taking five or more long-term medications. The analysis reveals that managing polypharmacy is an active, demanding process of creating personal coherence in the face of systemic fragmentation. Four major themes emerged: Navigating a Labyrinth of Information, governed by a hierarchical trust that limits inquiry; Reactive Medication Safety, where patients perform vigilant monitoring to compensate for missing proactive counseling; The Choreography of Medication Management, involving sophisticated, self-devised strategies to cope with systemic neglect; and The Multidimensional Weight of Medication Burden, a load profoundly shaped by psychological distress and cultural demands such as Ramadan. These findings characterize patients as resourceful agents constrained by a care environment that offloads significant labor onto them. Improving medication safety, therefore, requires shifting from focusing on patient deficits to designing systems compliant with the complex realities of patients’ lives.