Swallow Meds: Teaching healthy adults with pill swallowing aversion to safely take solid dose medicines

Swallowing whole tablets and capsules is uncomfortable for many people, this is either due to the physical or psychological factors, or a combination of both.

We know that about 30% of healthy adults have pill swallowing aversion. When people have trouble swallowing pills like tablets or capsules, they may choose not to take the medicine, cut or crush the medicine or seek an alternative way to take the medicine that is often more expensive.

This study seeks to use what we know about ‘why’ tablets are hard to swallow to teach a new method of successful pill swallowing.

The pill swallowing method is grounded in our understanding of how the mouth and the throat work for medicines versus how it works for food and drink.

We would like to invite you to participate in our project, which will ask you to complete three surveys each taking about 10 minutes, and attendance at one in-person training session lasting for 45 minutes at the UQ Dutton Park Campus ( Level 4, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba).

Eligibility

Inclusion criteria:

18 years and older
Self-identified aversion to tablet swallowing
Available to attend in-person on site at UQ Dutton Park Campus

Exclusion criteria:

Younger than 18 years of age
Pregnant or breastfeeding
Circumstances that interfere with the person’s ability to give informed consent (poor verbal or written comprehension, language other than English)
Individuals with dysphagia (medical difficulty swallowing food and/drink)
Shortness of breath (resting respiratory rate greater than 20 breaths per minute)
Individual is unwell on the day of proposed participation in the study. Unwell = temperature above 37 oC, cough or other respiratory symptoms, vomiting or other intestinal disturbance.

Register your interest

Register your interest

This study has been approved by The University of Queensland Human Research Ethics Committee [Approval No.2024/HE002325].