Differences in Medication Adherence, Satisfaction and Clinical Symptoms in Schizophrenic outpatients Taking Different Antipsychotic Regimens

OBJECTIVE: To investigate differences in medication adherence, treatment satisfaction and clinical symptoms in schizophrenic outpatients taking different antipsychotic treatment regimens. METHODOLOGY: Medication adherence was measured using the 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8) while treatment satisfaction was measured using the Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication (TSQM 1.4). Psychiatric symptoms were measured using the 24-item expanded Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS-E). Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS 16 for windows. RESULTS: A convenience sample of 131 schizophrenic patients was studied. Patients belonged to 7 groups based on their antipsychotic treatment regimens. There was no significant difference in the means of adherence (P=0.6) and BPRS domains: positive (P=0.6), negative (P=0.8), manic (P=0.2) and depression (P=0.9) scores among the studied groups. Satisfaction with side effect domain was significantly different among studied groups (P=0.006, F=3). However, no significant difference was found in other satisfaction domains: effectiveness (P=0.8), convenience (P=0.3), and global satisfaction (P=0.8). CONCLUSIONS: Medications adherence, most treatment satisfaction domains and clinical symptom scores were not significantly different among patients taking different antipsychotic regimens.