Factors associated with noncompliance with psychiatric outpatient visits.
Adherence to recommended services is essential for long-term effectiveness of ambulatory treatment programs, but factors associated with such adherence are not securely established. We evaluated attendance at 896 scheduled psychiatric clinic visits for 62 patients at a major psychiatric teaching hospital. Visit adherence was found to be significantly higher among patients in an acute stage of illness, those with a personality disorder, those with a post-high-school education, and those living alone. Adherence was also higher when visits were routinely scheduled, when the intervisit interval was shorter, and when the visit entailed psychotherapy rather than pharmacotherapy.
Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Belmont, Massachusetts, USA.
F
F
Centorrino
M A
MA
Hernán
G
G
Drago-Ferrante
M
M
Rendall
A
A
Apicella
G
G
Längar
R J
RJ
Baldessarini
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016312:Treatment Refusal / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*