Compliance and schizophrenia: the predictive potential of insight into illness, symptoms, and side effects.
BACKGROUND
Personal beliefs about medication compliance have been reliably associated with emotional and behavioral response to mental health problems and health outcomes. This notion has been extensively explored in relation to mental illness. In the current study, a questionnaire designed to assess beliefs about medication compliance (the medication adherence rating scale [MARS]) was translated into Taiwanese to explore beliefs about compliance in schizophrenic patients.


METHODS
In this cross-sectional study, 104 patients who met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, criteria for schizophrenic disorders were recruited and independently interviewed. We first determined the psychometric properties of the translated MARS, including internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and construct validity. In addition, we investigated the relationships between medication compliance and clinical variables through correlation and regression analyses.


RESULTS
We found that the translated MARS was a simple and reliable self-reported compliance scale. Furthermore, in this exploratory study, we found that patients with better medication compliance had better insight into mental illness, less severe psychopathologic condition, and less negative subjective response to side effects of antipsychotics.


CONCLUSIONS
Additional research focusing on these patient outcomes will be of great interest and value in elucidating the role of medication compliance in management of schizophrenic patients.
Kao
Yu-Cheng
YC
Department of Psychiatry, Songshan Armed Forces General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan 105, Republic of China.
Liu
Yia-Ping
YP
D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001364:Awareness; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000523:psychology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011599:Psychopathology; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents