THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MORAL SELF-AWARENESS AND TREATMENT ADHERENCE IN CHRONICALLY ILL ADOLESCENTS
Keywords:
Keywords: moral self-awareness, treatment adherence, adolescence, chronic illness, self-management, self-regulation, health responsibility.Abstract
Abstract: Managing a chronic illness during adolescence creates a developmental challenge because responsibility for medication, symptom monitoring, dietary requirements, appointments, and other treatment-related activities gradually shifts from parents to the young person. Treatment adherence therefore becomes increasingly dependent on the adolescent’s own motivation, beliefs, and capacity for self-regulation. This article explores moral self-awareness as a possible psychological factor in this process. Drawing on Uchqun Mamanazarov’s work on adolescent moral self-awareness and international research on chronic illness self-management, the article argues that moral reflection and perceived responsibility may contribute to adherence when they support autonomous rather than externally controlled behavior. At the same time, treatment nonadherence should never be interpreted as a moral weakness. Adherence is influenced by treatment burden, side effects, forgetfulness, family relationships, illness beliefs, emotional difficulties, financial factors, peer context, and access to healthcare. The article therefore proposes a multidimensional model in which moral self-awareness may influence adherence indirectly through personal responsibility, self-regulation, and autonomous motivation.
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