Drug Acceptance Rate and Factors Affecting It in Bipolar Patients in Clinics Affiliated to Babol, Iran

Background: The present study was conducted considering the relatively high prevalence of bipolar disorder in Iran and the insufficiency of existing studies regarding the acceptance of medication in patients with bipolar disorder. The study also considered the role of cultural issues in this field and the increase in the rate of recurrence and deterioration of the prognosis in the case of nonacceptance of medication. Aims: Our purpose of conducting this study was to investigate the level of medication acceptance and determine the factors that cause drug nonacceptance in bipolar patients. Settings and Design: This was a cross-sectional study. Materials and Methods: The current research is on 100 patients with bipolar disorder referring to psychiatric clinics in Babol, Iran, in the form of convenient sampling. The patients were asked to answer the questions related to doctor–patient communication in the doctor–patient communication questionnaire. Statistical Analysis Used: The relationship between doctor–patient communication (independent variable) and both general acceptance and medication acceptance (dependent variables) was analyzed using independent t -test, analysis of variance, and Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Results: Fifty-four percent of patients had high medication acceptance. A significant relationship was observed between the level of doctor–patient communication and general acceptance ( r = 0.811, P ≤ 0.001) and medication acceptance ( r = 0.739, P ≤ 0.001) of patients. According to the findings of this research, general acceptance and medication acceptance ( r = 0.804, P ≤ 0.001) have a strong correlation. Conclusions: The degree of doctor–patient communication has a strong correlation with general and drug acceptance, which is higher in general acceptance than in drug acceptance, and this means that the higher the level of doctor–patient communication, the higher the general acceptance of patients will be, which will affect public acceptance more.