Clinical characteristics, health beliefs and compliance with maintenance treatment: a comparison between regular and irregular attenders at a depot clinic

This study investigated the relationship between clinical characteristics, health beliefs and compliance with depot neuroleptic maintenance treatment in schizophrenic patients by comparing a group of 40 irregular clinic attenders with another group of regular attenders matched by age and sex. While the 2 groups showed no difference in drug-induced extrapyramidal effects, the former were significantly more often depressed than the latter. Test-retest reliability coefficients of a 4-section health belief questionnaire showed marked variation in individual items. The 2 groups showed no difference in their perception of past effect of illness, likelihood of a relapse if maintenance treatment was stopped and effects of maintenance treatment.