title: Adherence therapy following an acute episode of schizophrenia: a multi-centre randomised controlled trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Non-adherence with antipsychotic medication is common in patients with schizophrenia.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To establish the efficacy of adherence therapy (AT) compared to treatment as usual (TAU) in improving medication compliance in patients following an acute episode of schizophrenia.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was designed as a parallel group, single blind, randomised controlled trial. Fieldwork was conducted in four centres (3 in Germany and 1 in Switzerland) and involved a total of 161 patients. Patients received 8 sessions of AT in addition to treatment as usual. The main outcomes of this study were adherence and psychopathology at 12 weeks post discharge follow up.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In total 80 patients received AT and 57 TAU. Intention-to-treat analysis included all randomised patients. Psychopathology, as determined using the PANSS-total, improved in the AT compared to TAU group by a mean of -6.16 points 12 weeks after discharge from hospital (p<.05). AT had no significant effects on patients' adherence, treatment attitudes or functioning. No significant adverse events were reported.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  AT improves psychopathology in patients recovering from an acute episode of schizophrenia.
authors: University of Applied Sciences-Welfare and Social Work, Bielefeld, Germany.
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Schulz
authors: Richard
authors: R
authors: Gray
authors: Alexa
authors: A
authors: Spiekermann
authors: Christoph
authors: C
authors: Abderhalden
authors: Johann
authors: J
authors: Behrens
authors: Martin
authors: M
authors: Driessen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055118:Medication Adherence; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000628:therapy*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents