- Cardiology
- General medicine
Girerd score
Exploring treatment adherence
The Girerd questionnaire explores difficulties in adherence to medication. Initially evaluated in hypertensive patients, it facilitates a discussion about medication intake and related obstacles. Its result is self-reported: it does not directly measure the quantity of medication actually taken.
- Number of questions
- 6 questions
- Approximate duration
- 1 to 2 minutes
- Population
- Adults on medication
- Modality
- Self-administered questionnaire or interview
QuestionnaireGirerd
SELF-QUESTIONNAIRE
The healthcare provider asks the patient, or the patient answers the six questions independently with yes or no. Positive answers indicate adherence difficulties.
Are you patient?
You can answer yourself, describing the actual doses taken and any difficulties you encountered. This questionnaire should not lead you to change your treatment on your own.
Terms of contract
The total score is not the goal of the interview. Reviewing the reported difficulties helps to understand their context and to identify, together with the patient, the right solutions without assigning blame.
Score interpretationGirerd
Each "yes" is worth 1 point, each "no" 0 points. The total is between 0 and 6.
Total score
First reading
0 to 0
Good reported adherence (score of 0).
1 to 2
Minor compliance difficulties reported (1 or 2).
3 to 6
Significant adherence difficulties reported (3 to 6).
In this presentation, each "yes" response indicating adherence difficulties is worth 1 point. The total score ranges from 0 to 6. - 0 points: good reported adherence. - 1 to 2 points: minor adherence difficulties. - 3 to 6 points: poor reported adherence. Some institutional documents present the questionnaire with inverted scoring: one point per "no" response, giving a total equal to 6 minus the number of difficulties. This convention defines good adherence at 6 points, low adherence at 4 or 5 points, and non-adherence at 3 points or fewer. The two conventions should not be mixed.
The result depends on what the patient reports, their understanding, and the quality of the communication. The categories do not correspond to percentages of doses taken. A score of zero does not rule out all difficulties, and a high value does not justify an automatic treatment intensification.
Frequently asked questions
Sources and references
Xavier Girerd, Olivier Hanon and collaborators
Initial validation: La Presse Médicale, 2001.
Questionnaires and associated scores
Integrate questionnaires into your practice
One-off collection or questionnaire integrated into a journey: let's discuss your needs with Aldebaran.