title: Treatment adherence and social functioning in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and treated with antipsychotic depot medication.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Some of the most significant problems encountered in the treatment of schizophrenia are non-adherence to the treatment with oral neuroleptics and difficult recovery of social functioning, after its impairment by negative psychotic symptoms and the progression of the disease with episodes of remission and relapse.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study comparatively assesses the parameters "social functioning" and "treatment adherence" in 34 outpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia at the Adult Psychiatry Clinic III and the Adult Mental Health Center of Cluj-Napoca, using the "Medication Adherence Rating Scale" (MARS) and the "Social Adaptation Self-evaluation Scale".
  
  
  RESULTS
  The two scales revealed that patients on depot medication tend to have better social functioning and social integration rates than patients for whom oral medication was prescribed. Despite the fact that most patients participating in the study had intellectual preoccupations and, to some extent, enjoyed working, 82% of them did not have a job. The percentage of those who did was higher in the cohort of patients on depot medication (63%) than in the cohort of patients for whom orally administered medication was prescribed (53%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Treatment adherence in patients with schizophrenia is thus significantly improved by depot medication, whereas treatment effectiveness and the frequency of adverse effects are similar for the two treatment options.
authors.affiliation: Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Bianca-Stephanie
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Popp
authors.affiliation: Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Marinela Minodora
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Manea
authors.affiliation: Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Madalina Oana
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Moraru
keywords: injectable antipsychotics; medication adherence; patient compliance; schizophrenia; social functioning