The influence of therapeutic alliance and insight on medication adherence in schizophrenia

The long-term adherence following the end of Community Treatment Order: A systematic review

BACKGROUND

The community treatment order (CTO) is designed to deliver mental healthcare in the community and has been introduced in around 75 jurisdictions worldwide. It constitutes a legal obligation in which individuals with severe mental illness must adhere to out-of-hospital treatment plans. Despite intense criticism and the debated nature of published evidence, it has emerged as a clinical and policy response to frequent hospital readmissions and to enhance adherence in cases where there is refusal of pharmacological treatments. This systematic review outlines findings on CTO long-term adherence, after mandatory outpatient treatment has ended, in studies that include people with psychiatric disorders.

METHOD

Following PRISMA guidelines, we performed a review of published articles from PubMed, PsycINFO, EMBASE, and CINAHL up to January 15, 2023. We included studies that assessed adherence after CTO ends. The study is registered with PROSPERO number CRD42022360879.

RESULTS

Six independent studies analyzing the main indicators of long adherence: engagement with services and medication adherence, were included. The average methodological quality of the studies included is fair. Long-term adherence was assessed over a period ranging from 11 to 28 months. Only two studies reported a statistically significant improvement. Regarding the remaining studies, no positive correlation was observed, except for certain subgroup samples, while in one study, medication adherence decreased.

CONCLUSION

Scientific evidence supporting the hypothesis that CTO has a positive role on long-term adherence post-obligation is currently not sufficient. Given the importance of modern recovery-oriented approaches and the coercive nature of compulsory outpatient treatment, it is necessary that future studies ensure the role of CTO in effectively promoting adherence.

Service users' perceptions of relevant and helpful components of an integrated care concept (ACCESS) for psychosis

Introduction

Psychotic disorders have a significant impact on patients' lives and their families, and long-term treatment with individually tailored multimodal combinations of therapies is often required. Integrated care (IC) concepts such as the "Hamburg Model (ACCESS)" with a focus on psychotic disorders, includes different (therapeutic) components with pharmaco- and psychotherapy, family involvement, home treatment and the option of using a 24/7 crisis hotline. All components are offered by a therapeutically-oriented assertive community treatment (TACT) team in a need-adapted manner. So far, however, little is known about which specific components are regarded as especially relevant and helpful by the users of IC.

Methods

Patients currently participating in IC completed a questionnaire as part of the continuous quality assurance study (ACCESS II) in which they were asked to rate the different components of treatment according to their relevance and helpfulness, considering the individual's unique experiences with IC and needs in mental health care. Furthermore, they were asked to make suggestions regarding additional helpful components of treatment.

Results

Fifty patients participated in this survey (23% of the patients currently participating in the IC concept). For participants, the most helpful and important factors were having the same therapist in the long-term and the 24/7 crisis telephone. Additional components suggested by patients included more addiction-specific therapies and increased focus on vocational rehabilitation and integration.

Conclusion

From the perspective of the users of IC, long-term care from a trusted therapist with whom there is a therapeutic relationship and the possibility to reach someone they already know from the TACT team 24/7 serves as the best basis for effective care, fostering trust, understanding, and open communication. In contrast, home treatment remains a relevant aspect of evidence-based care for people with severe mental illness, but perhaps surprisingly, is not viewed as the most important issue.

Navigating the Challenges: Predictors of Non-Adherence to Psychotropic Medications Among Patients with Severe Mental Illnesses in Ethiopia

Background

Psychotropic medications, consisting of antidepressants, mood stabilizers, antipsychotics, and anxiolytics, are the pillars of managing mental illnesses. Since there is impairment in judgment, attitude, and stability in patients with severe mental conditions, they are vulnerable to non-adherence, which compromises treatment outcome. Nevertheless, a lack of studies investigating medication non-adherence and its predictors in severe mental illnesses patients in Ethiopia has been noticed. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the extent of non-adherence to psychotropic medication and its predictors in patients with severe mental illnesses in Ethiopia.

Patients and Methods

A cross-sectional study was carried out among severely ill mental patients attending outpatient psychiatry department at Debre Markos Comprehensive Specialized Hospital. Stratified sampling strategy was used to enroll patients with a variety of mental diseases. The determinants of non-adherence were identified using logistic regression analysis. Statistical significance was determined by a p-value of <0.05 and a 95% confidence range.

Results

The prevalence of non-adherence to psychotropic medication was 50.9%. Missing regular follow-up [AOR (95% CI): 2.36 (1.24-4.47)], current substance use [AOR (95% CI): 2.48 (1.44-4.27)], negative attitude towards treatment [AOR (95% CI); 3.87 (2.26-6.62)], experience of side effects [AOR (95% CI); 4.84 (2.74-8.54)], medication use for more than 3 years [AOR (95% CI); 7.16 (3.93-13.06)], and no family support [AOR (95% CI); 2.07 (1.19-3.58)] were predictors of psychotropic medication non-adherence.

Conclusion

This study generalized that most of the patients were non-adherent to their medications. Missing regular follow-up, current substance use, negative attitude towards treatment, experience of side effects, Medication use for more than 3 years and absence of family support were found to influence medication adherence of the patients. In order to correct patients', caregivers', and societal misconceptions regarding the significance of treatment adherence, we recommend the need to implement psycho-educational programs.

Predictors of medication adherence in a large 1-year prospective cohort of individuals with schizophrenia: insights from the multicentric FACE-SZ dataset

Schizophrenia is characterized by the most salient medication adherence problems among severe mental disorders, but limited prospective data are available to predict and improve adherence in this population. This investigation aims to identify predictors of medication adherence over a 1-year period in a large national cohort using clustering analysis. Outpatients were recruited from ten Schizophrenia Expert Centers and were evaluated with a day-long standardized battery including clinician and patient-rated medication adherence measures. A two-step cluster analysis and multivariate logistic regression were conducted to identify medication adherence profiles based on the Medication Adherence rating Scale (MARS) and baseline predictors. A total of 485 participants were included in the study and medication adherence was significantly improved at the 1-year follow-up. Higher depressive scores, lower insight, history of suicide attempt, younger age and alcohol use disorder were all associated with poorer adherence at 1 year. Among the 203 patients with initially poor adherence, 86 (42%) switched to good adherence at the 1-year follow-up, whereas 117 patients (58%) remained poorly adherent. Targeting younger patients with low insight, history of suicide, alcohol use disorder and depressive disorders should be prioritized through literacy and educational therapy programs. Adherence is a construct that can vary considerably from year to year in schizophrenia, and therefore may be amenable to interventions for its improvement. However, caution is also warranted as nearly one in five patients with initially good adherence experienced worsened adherence 1 year later.

Validation of the Working Alliance Inventory- Short Form for Patient (WAI-S-P) in Peruvian Adults

Background

Although the importance of the therapeutic alliance in the treatment process and health outcomes is recognized, so far, there has been no evaluation in the Peruvian context that considers possible individual differences that could influence this assessment.

Purpose

This study assessed the psychometric properties of the WAI-S-P in a sample of individuals from Peru who are receiving psychological therapy. Furthermore, a network analysis was conducted to investigate the direct relationships between the therapeutic alliance and several relevant sociodemographic variables.

Methods

The short version of the Working Alliance Inventory was used in a sample of 241 participants (Mage=32.58, SD=12.67) that had attended less than 6 sessions. Three models were considered, including a three-factor and a two-factor correlated model, as well as a bifactor model. In addition, a network of partial associations was created including the overall therapeutic alliance, sex, age, and number of psychotherapeutic sessions.

Results

The bifactor model, with an overall therapeutic alliance factor and two specific factors ("contact" and "contract"), better fit the data. Invariance of the structure by sex and age showed equitable measurement. On the other hand, network analysis revealed a positive correlation between total session attendance and therapeutic alliance. Men reported higher therapeutic alliance, while women had higher total session attendance.

Conclusion

The results of this study suggest that the therapeutic alliance is better represented by a bifactor model and demonstrates invariance across sex and age in Peruvian adults. Additionally, findings indicate that differences in life experiences and the sex of patients may need to be verified in future studies to better understand nuanced needs in forming therapeutic alliances at least in the early stages of session attendance.

Systematic review of involuntary hospitalisation and long-term compliance

INTRODUCTION

Involuntary hospitalisation denies autonomy and freedom of decision-making and is frequent in psychiatric clinical practice. However, there is still a lack of knowledge of long-term compliance after Involuntary commitment.

METHODS

We conducted a systematic review of published studies reporting people compliance after involuntary hospitalisation and people compliance after voluntary admission. Two investigators independently searched PubMed, PsycINFO, EMBASE and CINAHL up to December 17th, 2021 to identify eligible studies. The study is registered with PROSPERO number CRD42022299437.

RESULTS

Ten independent studies analysing the main indicators of compliance, engagement with services and medication adherence, were included. Three studies show that compliance is worse in people that have been involuntary hospitalised and in the others no association is found. Just two of the ten studies show an association with improved compliance. Outcomes are assessed from the first follow-up appointment after discharge up to 96 months.

CONCLUSIONS

Although evidences carried out so far are weak, the data do not show a trend of improvements and do not seem to exclude the possibility of worse compliance after compulsory hospitalisation. More appropriate methodologies and reliable assessment are needed in future research to provide scientific evidence on involuntary admission health effects.

Calibration and Validation of a PREMIUM-DT Item Bank to Measure the Experience of Drug Therapy for Patients with Severe Mental Illness

The aim of this study was to (1) calibrate an item bank to measure patients’ experience of drug therapy for adult patients with SMIs and (2) develop computerized adaptive testing (CAT) to improve its use in routine practice. This is a cross-sectional, multicentric study involving 541 patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder. Analyses based on classical test and item response theories were performed. After 7 highly inter-correlated items and 4 items with low factor loadings were removed, the remaining 26 items were sufficiently unidimensional (RMSEA = 0.069, CFI = 0.969, TLI = 0.963) and showed adequate fit to the generalized partial credit model. There was no differential item functioning by gender, age, care setting, or diagnosis from moderate- to large-magnitude. The mean score was 46.0 ± 16.9 and was significantly higher for patients reporting good medication adherence. The resulting PREMIUM-DT item bank has strong psychometric properties, and CAT facilitates widespread use in clinical settings (an average of 8 items administered, corresponding to a reliability of >0.90). Our results suggest that practical information and information about the side effects of psychotropic treatments and how to cope with them should be targeted as a priority to improve patients’ experience of drug therapy.

Home medication management problems and associated factors among psychiatric patients using home care pharmacy services at government hospitals in western Malaysia

Background

Proper home medication management plays a role in improving medication adherence, preserving drug efficacy and ensuring safe medication practices, which is crucial to establish positive treatment outcomes. However, no published studies are available on home medication management among psychiatric patients. The study aimed to identify home medication management problems among psychiatric patients in Malaysia and to examine the associations of inappropriate medication storage and lack of a medication administration schedule with sociodemographic factors, disease insight, number of medications and type of home care pharmacy services (HCPS).

Methods

This multicentre cross-sectional study was conducted among psychiatric patients using HCPS in six government hospitals in western Malaysia. Data were extracted from the HCPS form used for each visit as per the protocol published by the Pharmaceutical Services Division, Ministry of Health Malaysia. A minimum sample size of 169 was needed. Proportional random sampling was applied. The associations of inappropriate medication storage and lack of medication administration schedule with study parameters were analysed using multiple logistic regressions.

Results

A total of 205 home visits were conducted with 229 home medication management problems identified; inappropriate medication storage and lack of medication administration schedule topped the list. Inappropriate medication storage was significantly associated with low income [AOR = 4.34 (95% CI 1.17:15.98), p = 0.027], alcohol consumption [AOR = 14.26 (95% CI 1.82:111.38), p = 0.011], poor insight [AOR = 2.34 (95% CI 1.08:5.06), p = 0.030] and part-time HCPS [AOR = 2.60 (95% CI 1.20:5.67), p = 0.016]. Lack of administration schedule was significantly associated with low income [AOR = 6.90 (95% CI 1.46:32.48), p = 0.014], smoking [AOR = 2.43 (95% CI 1.20:4.92), p = 0.013], poor insight [AOR = 5.32 (95% CI 2.45:11.56), p < 0.05] and part-time HCPS [AOR = 2.96 (95% CI 1.42:6.15), p = 0.004].

Conclusions

Inappropriate medication storage and a lack of a medication administration schedule are common among psychiatric patients. The study also highlighted the potential of HCPS to improve disease insight and home medication management among psychiatric patients if the service is utilized fully.

Factors influencing medication adherence among patients with severe mental disorders from the perspective of mental health professionals

BACKGROUND

Medication adherence is a common issue influenced by various factors among patients with severe mental disorders worldwide. However, most literature to date has been primarily quantitative and has focused on medication adherence issue from the perspective of patients or their caregivers. Moreover, research focused on medication adherence issue in China is scarce. Present study aims to explore the influential factors of medication adherence among patients with severe mental disorders form the perspective of mental health professionals in Hunan Province, China.

METHODS

A qualitative study was performed in Hunan Province, China with 31 mental health professionals recruited from October to November 2017. And semi-structured interviews or focus group interviews were conducted along with audio recordings of all interviews. Interview transcripts were then coded and analyzed in Nvivo software with standard qualitative approaches.

RESULTS

Three major themes influencing medication adherence among patients with severe mental disorders were identified as: (1) attitudes towards mental disorder/treatment; (2) inadequate aftercare; (3) resource shortages.

CONCLUSIONS

This qualitative study identified the factors influencing medication adherence among patients with severe mental disorders in China. As a locally driven research study, it provides practical advice on medication adherence promotion for mental health workers and suggests culturally tailored models that improve the management of patients with severe mental disorders in order to reduce economic burden on individual and societal level.

Interventions Incorporating Therapeutic Alliance to Improve Medication Adherence in Black Patients with Diabetes, Hypertension and Kidney Disease: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND

Black Americans have a disproportionately increased risk of diabetes, hypertension, and kidney disease, and higher associated morbidity, mortality, and hospitalization rates than their White peers. Structural racism amplifies these disparities, and negatively impacts self-care including medication adherence, critical to chronic disease management. Systematic evidence of successful interventions to improve medication adherence in Black patients with diabetes, hypertension, and kidney disease is lacking. Knowledge of the impact of therapeutic alliance, ie, the unique relationship between patients and providers, which optimizes outcomes especially for minority populations, is unclear. The role and application of behavioral theories in successful development of medication adherence interventions specific to this context also remains unclear.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the existing evidence on the salience of a therapeutic alliance in effective interventions to improve medication adherence in Black patients with diabetes, hypertension, or kidney disease.

DATA SOURCES

Medline (via PubMed), EMBASE (OvidSP), Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) (EBSCOhost), and PsycINFO (ProQuest) databases.

REVIEW METHODS

Only randomized clinical trials and pre/post intervention studies published in English between 2009 and 2022 with a proportion of Black patients greater than 25% were included. Narrative synthesis was done.

RESULTS

Eleven intervention studies met the study criteria and eight of those studies had all-Black samples. Medication adherence outcome measures were heterogenous. Five out of six studies which effectively improved medication adherence, incorporated therapeutic alliance. Seven studies informed by behavioral theories led to significant improvement in medication adherence.

DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION

Study findings suggest that therapeutic alliance-based interventions are effective in improving medication adherence in Black patients with diabetes and hypertension. Further research to test the efficacy of therapeutic alliance-based interventions to improve medication adherence in Black patients should ideally incorporate cultural adaptation, theoretical framework, face-to-face delivery mode, and convenient locations.

Comparison of three scales (BIS, SUMD and BCIS) for measuring insight dimensions and their evolution after one-year of follow-up: Findings from the FACE-SZ Cohort

The aim of our study was to compare the performance of three different instruments measuring clinical and cognitive dimensions of insight. Data on 182 outpatients with schizophrenia and one-year follow-up assessments was drawn from the FACE-SZ cohort. Awareness of clinical state (« clinical insight ») was measured using both a clinician-rated measure (the Scale to assess Unawareness of Mental Disorder (SUMD)), and a self-report measure (the Birchwood Insight Scale (BIS). Cognitive insight was measured using a self-report measure (the Beck Cognitive Insight Scale (BCIS)). For each scale, change in insight was examined at the follow-up. Correlations between SUMD and BIS subscales measuring same dimensions were significant. BIS-BCIS correlations were weak for all combinations except between BIS illness dimension and BCIS composite score. At the follow-up, BIS and SUMD awareness of treatment need improved whereas illness and symptom awareness increased only on the SUMD. Conversely, cognitive insight composite scores decreased. Despite relatively good overall agreement between the two clinical insight instruments, considerable variability for similar insight dimensions measured by different instruments was found. Agreement between cognitive and clinical insight is moderate. Our study strengthens the argument that insight is harder to operationalize than other symptoms and may explain why it is so seldom explicitly targeted in schizophrenia treatment.

The Effect of Therapeutic Alliance on Attitudes Toward Psychiatric Medications in Schizophrenia

PURPOSE/BACKGROUND

The differential influence of therapeutic alliance with different health care professionals on patients' medication adherence has never been examined.

METHODS/PROCEDURES

Ninety-five stable outpatients (91 patients with schizophrenia and 4 patients with schizoaffective disorder) were recruited. Individual, clinical, and medication factors were assessed, along with drug attitude (10-item Drug Attitude Inventory). Comparison on these factors was made between outpatients who identified psychiatrists as the health care professional most involved in their care, as compared with other health care professionals.

FINDINGS/RESULTS

Older age, longer duration of illness, presence of medical comorbidities, lower levels of internalized stigma, higher levels of insight, higher levels of functioning, lesser severity of depressive symptoms, and positive symptoms were found to be significantly associated with greater levels of drug attitude (small to moderate associations). Only therapeutic alliance had a large correlation with drug attitude (ρ = 0.503, P < 0.001). The therapeutic alliance scores between the 2 health care professionals groups are not significantly different. However, participants who have identified psychiatrists as the health care professional that contributed the most to their recovery reported a significantly more positive attitude (μ = 6.18, SD = 3.42) toward psychiatric medication as compared with the other health care professionals group (μ = 3.11, SD = 5.32, P = 0.004). Only 2 factors, the Revised Helping Alliance Questionnaire (β = 0.424, P < 0.001) and Personal and Social Performance scale (β = 0.272, P = 0.006), were statistically significant predictors of drug attitude.

IMPLICATIONS/CONCLUSIONS

Therapeutic alliance is found to be the lead factor associated with drug attitude in patients with schizophrenia. Identifying psychiatrists as the health care professional most involved in the patients' recovery can greatly increase patients' drug attitudes. Maintaining individuals' functioning also contributes to drug attitude.

Patient Factors Influencing Outpatient Retention in Patients with Affective and Anxiety Disorders: A Retrospective Study

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the present study is to identify the factors that affect retention in outpatients with psychiatric disorders as indicators of treatment adherence, including Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) scores.

METHODS

The medical records of 146 patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, or anxiety disorder for at least 10 years and discharged were retrospectively reviewed in the present study. The subjects were categorized based on the duration of outpatient treatment as < 6 months (L6) or ≥ 6 months (M6) groups and reclassified as < 36 months (L36) and ≥ 36 months (M36) groups. The demographic, clinical, and personality characteristics of the groups were compared.

RESULTS

Patients in M6 and M36 groups were more likely to have a higher educational level compared with those in the L6 and L36 groups, respectively. Patients in the M6 group showed significantly lower hypomania (Ma) scores on the MMPI test than did patients in the L6 group.

CONCLUSION

The association between high Ma score on the MMPI test and early discontinuation of treatment suggests that impulsivity, hostility, and disinhibition confer higher risk of nonadherence.

The Influence of Body Image, Insight, and Mental Health Confidence on Medication Adherence in Young Adult Women with Mental Disorders

The aim of this descriptive study was to investigate the impact of body image, insight, and mental health confidence on medication adherence among young adult women with mental disorders. Data collection occurred from August to September 2018. The study participants were 147 young adult women aged 19 to 45 with mental disorders who were psychiatry outpatients either getting treatment in general hospitals located in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province or receiving rehabilitation therapy through local mental health welfare centers in Korea, and agreed to participate in the study. The measurement tools used were the Body Image Scale; the Scale to Assess Unawareness of Mental Disorder, Korean short-form version; the Korean version of the Mental Health Confidence Scale; and the Korean version of the Medication Compliance Scale. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, analysis of variance, Pearson correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis in SPSS/WIN 25.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Medication adherence among the study participants differed by age (F = 2.95, p = 0.042), religion (t = −2.06, p = 0.042), level of trust in psychiatrists (F = 5.40, p = 0.006), treatment duration (F = 4.48, p = 0.005), and noncompliance to medication regimens due to weight gain (t = −2.61, p = 0.010). Multiple regression analysis demonstrated that body image (β = −0.32, p < 0.001), insight (β = −0.24, p = 0.002), and mental health confidence (β = 0.24, p = 0.004) had a significant impact on the medication adherence of the participants. Body image, in particular, had the greatest influence on the medication adherence of the participants. This study found that body image, insight, and mental health confidence were important in improving medication adherence among young adult women with mental disorders. Practical, patient-centered, and individualized approaches that can improve medication adherence by seeking to understand negative perceptions regarding body image should be considered.

Targeting the problem of treatment non-adherence among mentally ill patients: The impact of loss, grief and stigma

The present study examined the factor structure of the Hungarian version of the Medication Adherence Rating Scale (MARS) and analyzed its association with socio-demographics, insight, internalized stigma, and the experience of loss and grief as a result of the mental illness diagnosis, using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with a series of one covariates at a time. Mentally ill patients (N=200) completed self-report questionnaires. CFA supported the original three-factor structure although one item was moved from its original factor to another. Lower insight, higher internalized stigma, loss, and grief were significant predictors of lower treatment adherence. Lower adherence was found to be significantly associated with lower quality of life. No difference in adherence was found between different diagnostic groups, which stresses the need to examine non-adherence in the wider spectrum of mental diagnosis. The study also stresses the importance of patients' subjective experience in promoting better adherence, and raises the need to address the experience of stigma but also of less studied experiences, such as patients' feelings of loss and grief. Integrating these experiences in intervention programs might have meaningful implications for the improvement of treatment adherence and patients' quality of life.

Gap between patients with schizophrenia and their psychiatrists on the needs to psychopharmacological treatment: A cross-sectional study

Aim

Psychopharmacological treatment is indispensable in patients with schizophrenia but data on needs, preferences, and complaints about their medications are limited. Moreover, there has been no study to assess the degree of awareness of their psychiatrists (gap in needs) regarding these issues.

Methods

Ninety‐seven Japanese patients with schizophrenia (ICD‐10) were asked to fill in the questionnaire consisting of multiple‐choice questions regarding (a) their needs and complaints about psychopharmacological treatment that they were receiving, and (b) their preference of dosage form, dosing frequency, and timing of dosing. Additionally, their psychiatrists in charge were asked to predict their patients’ response to the above questions.

Results

Both the most frequently endorsed need and complaints about the current psychopharmacological treatment were “nothing in particular” (n = 14, 16.7% and n = 17, 20.2%); merely 23.1% and 15.4% of their psychiatrists correctly predicted these responses, respectively. “Once a day” (n = 56, 65.1%), “at bedtime” (n = 53, 61.6%), and “tablet” (n = 51, 59.3%) were the patients’ most favorite dosing frequency, timing, and dosage form, respectively; 59.8% (n = 49), 54.9% (n = 45), and 64.6% (n = 53) of their psychiatrists predicted them.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that there is substantial room for improvement on the side of psychiatrists to capture their patients’ needs and complaints about psychopharmacological treatment.

Removing Compliance: Interpersonal and Social Factors Affecting Insight Assessments

This paper probes the format and underlying assumptions of insight conceptualizations and assessment procedures in psychiatry. It does so with reference to the often-neglected perspective of the assessed person. It delineates what the mental steps involved in an insight assessment are for the assessed person, and how they become affected by the context and dynamics of the clinical setting. The paper examines how expectations of compliance in insight assessment tools and procedures extend far beyond treatment adherence, to compliance with diagnostic language and the assessment relationship. Such compliance can be ethically problematic and not in line with human rights standards, notably the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Most importantly, it can be counterproductive in supporting an individual to gain better insight in the sense of self-knowledge. The paper concludes with guidelines for a new approach to insight. This new approach requires taking into account currently neglected components of insight, in particular its relational and social dimensions, through which a person's insight operates and develops, and through which it could be supported. Concretely, this would mean removing the condition of compliance and reflecting on the influence of the clinician-patient relationship and assessment situation on insight.

Association between Therapeutic Alliance and Adherence in Outpatient Schizophrenia Patients

Objective

Although various clinical factors that affect medication adherence in schizophrenia have been studied, the role of the therapeutic alliance has not been studied in detail. Accordingly, we investigated the association between medication adherence and therapeutic alliance in patients with schizophrenia treated in a community outpatient clinic in Korea.

Methods

In this cross-sectional study, 81 outpatients who met the DSM-IV-TR criteria for schizophrenia were analyzed. Therapeutic alliance was measured via patient-self-report questionnaires consisting of 12 questions, which evaluate both “affective bond” and “collaborative bond” of alliance. We investigated the relationship between medication adherence and therapeutic alliance through correlation and regression analyses.

Results

Overall therapeutic alliance was weakly associated with medication adherence (r=0.268, p<0.05). Among two factors of therapeutic alliance, “affective bond” was associated with adherence (r=0.302, p<0.05), but collaborative was not. Regression analysis showed that therapeutic alliance significantly predicted medication adherence even after adjustment for duration of treatment, insight, and symptom severity.

Conclusion

Maintaining a favorable therapeutic alliance is associated with medication adherence in schizophrenia. Further, treating patients in a frank and genuine manner might be important to improve adherence.

The relationship between the therapeutic alliance and client variables in individual treatment for schizophrenia spectrum disorders and early psychosis: Narrative review

Given the high rates of treatment disengagement and medication nonadherence in individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and early psychosis, fostering a strong alliance in treatment is critical. Moreover, the role of the therapeutic alliance extends beyond that in traditional psychotherapy because of the multifaceted nature of treatment. Thus, this review provides a comprehensive discussion of the relationship between the alliance and client variables across various provider types and individual treatments. This review summarizes existing research on (a) client correlates/predictors of the therapeutic alliance and on (b) the relationship between the alliance and client treatment outcomes in individual treatment for schizophrenia spectrum disorders and early psychosis. Parallel literature searches were conducted using PubMed and PsycINFO databases, which yielded 1202 potential studies with 84 studies meeting inclusion criteria. With regard to correlates/predictors, the existing evidence suggests that better insight, medication adherence, social support, and recovery variables were related to better client-rated alliance. Better medication adherence and recovery variables as well as less severe symptoms were related to better provider-rated alliance. In terms of alliance-outcome relationships, evidence suggests that a strong provider-rated alliance was predictive of improved functioning and medication and treatment adherence. There was some limited evidence that better client-rated alliance was related to improved recovery outcomes. Despite mixed results and heterogeneity among studies, this review suggests that a strong alliance can be beneficial in individual schizophrenia treatment. Thus, training and supervision of providers should emphasize developing a positive alliance, particularly with clients for whom developing an alliance may be difficult.

The Patient-Reported Experience Measure for Improving qUality of care in Mental health (PREMIUM) project in France: study protocol for the development and implementation strategy

BACKGROUND

Measuring the quality and performance of health care is a major challenge in improving the efficiency of a health system. Patient experience is one important measure of the quality of health care, and the use of patient-reported experience measures (PREMs) is recommended. The aims of this project are 1) to develop item banks of PREMs that assess the quality of health care for adult patients with psychiatric disorders (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression) and to validate computerized adaptive testing (CAT) to support the routine use of PREMs; and 2) to analyze the implementation and acceptability of the CAT among patients, professionals, and health authorities.

METHODS

This multicenter and cross-sectional study is based on a mixed method approach, integrating qualitative and quantitative methodologies in two main phases: 1) item bank and CAT development based on a standardized procedure, including conceptual work and definition of the domain mapping, item selection, calibration of the item bank and CAT simulations to elaborate the administration algorithm, and CAT validation; and 2) a qualitative study exploring the implementation and acceptability of the CAT among patients, professionals, and health authorities.

DISCUSSION

The development of a set of PREMs on quality of care in mental health that overcomes the limitations of previous works (ie, allowing national comparisons regardless of the characteristics of patients and care and based on modern testing using item banks and CAT) could help health care professionals and health system policymakers to identify strategies to improve the quality and efficiency of mental health care.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

NCT02491866.

Challenges and Opportunities in Building and Maintaining a Good Therapeutic Relationship in Acute Psychiatric Settings: A Narrative Review

Background: The therapeutic relationship and its importance for psychotherapy outcome have been the subject of extensive research over the last decades. An acute psychiatric inpatient setting is a unique environment where severely ill patients receive intensive treatment over a limited, relatively short, period of time. This renders establishing a good therapeutic relationship difficult for various reasons. It seems likely, however, that the therapeutic relationship in such a setting plays a vital role on factors such as clinical outcome, patient satisfaction, and rehospitalization rates. Little information is available on special attributes and caveats of building and maintaining a good therapeutic relationship in an acute psychiatric setting, neither on its influence on therapy success. Methods: An extensive systematic literature search was performed using PubMed, science direct, psyc info, and google scholar databases. Keywords used were therapeutic alliance, therapeutic relationship, psychiatry, emergency, acute, coercion, autonomy, involuntary, closed ward. RCTs, observational studies, reviews, meta-analyses, and economic evaluations were included, case reports and opinion papers were excluded. Factors specific to an acute psychiatric setting were identified, and the available information was categorized and analyzed accordingly. The PRISMA statement guidelines were followed closely upon research and preparation of the present review. Results: A total of 48 studies were selected based on their relevance as well as design. They demonstrated that several factors related to setting, patient attributes, staff attributes, admission circumstances, and general situation, render building and maintaining a good therapeutic relationship difficult in an acute psychiatric setting compared to scheduled, long-term therapeutic sessions. The available literature on how to overcome this dilemma is scarce. Interventions involving staff and/or patients have been shown to be effective in terms of relevant outcome parameters. Conclusions: Increasing research efforts, as well as raising awareness and providing specific competencies amongst clinicians and patients in terms of nurturing a good therapeutic relationship in acute settings, are necessary to improve clinical outcome, economic factors, quality of patient care and patient as well as staff satisfaction.

Adherence, insight and disability in paranoid schizophrenia

Insight has long been linked to both prognosis and functioning in patients with schizophrenia; likewise, it is key to treatment adherence. This study seeks to assess the association between insight, adherence to pharmacological treatment, and disability in schizophrenia, and to study the potential mediating role of adherence between insight and disability. Insight (SUMD), adherence (CRS), and disability (WHO-DAS) were measured in 80 clinically stable patients with DSM-IV TR paranoid schizophrenia. Psychopathology was assessed with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). In a first step, predictors of disability were identified using linear regression to identify variables related to disability and further a mediation analysis was carried out. Negative symptoms, insight, and adherence account for 54.2% of the variance in disability. Negative symptoms act directly on disability, while the effect of insight on disability is partially mediated by adherence. Insight is key in disability in schizophrenia and should be leveraged in treatment programs.

The mediating effect of family function and medication adherence between symptoms and mental disability among Chinese patients with schizophrenia: a cross-sectional study

Schizophrenia is a debilitating, chronic, and high-refractory mental illness. Researchers should focus considerable attention to patients with mental disability. This study aims to explore the mediating effect of family function and medication adherence between symptoms and mental disability among Chinese patients with schizophrenia during the convalescent stage. Data from a cross-sectional sample of 499 Chinese patients with schizophrenia were used in this study. The participants were recruited and independently interviewed using the General Information Sheet, Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule II (WHO-DAS II), Family APGAR Index (APGAR), and Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8) as outcome measures. A structural equation modeling strategy was used to analyze data. To analyze the correlation matrix, we applied the maximum-likelihood method to estimate the parameters. Bootstrapping was used to validate the mediation effects. Findings from the structural equation modeling demonstrated that family function and medication adherence played mediating roles between psychiatric symptoms and disability. This study presents a partial mediation model. Psychiatrists and nurses should assess the level of family function and medication adherence for schizophrenia, as well as provide interventions to improve family function and medication adherence, thereby eventually mediating disability.

A Longitudinal Analysis of Factors Associated with Therapeutic Alliances

This study examined the impact, on therapeutic alliances, made by client motivation to change, insight, mistrust, and other factors; as well as therapist's clinical experience. This secondary data analysis used a sample of 212 client respondents extracted from the Treatment of Depression Collaborative Research Program's data set. Results of generalized least squares random-effects modeling showed a significant impact exerted by client social-adjustment difficulties, insight, alcohol use, and gender; and client-therapist matching gender. Also, four elements of therapeutic alliances-regard, empathic understanding, unconditionality, and congruence-had four unique patterns of significant factors. To foster therapeutic alliances, therapists need to help clients develop awareness of and insight into the clients' social-adjustment difficulties; therapists should also be particularly sensitive to expectations of clients of the opposite sex. Implications for future research are suggested.

Exploring predictors of medication adherence among inpatients with schizophrenia in Singapore's mental health settings: A non-experimental study

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder, which is marked by frequent relapses. The main reason for relapse is nonadherence to antipsychotics. A cross-sectional, correlational research study was conducted with a convenience sample of 92 participants. The primary aim of this study was to explore the predictors of medication adherence among inpatients with schizophrenia hospitalised at tertiary hospitals in Singapore. Post-hoc analysis revealed that insight, religion, side effects, types of antipsychotics, social support from significant others, nurse-client relationship, were significant predictive factors. Results from this study added knowledge to the nursing literature about medication adherence of schizophrenia patients and in Singapore setting.

A narrative meta-synthesis of how people with schizophrenia experience facilitators and barriers in using antipsychotic medication: Implications for healthcare professionals

BACKGROUND

It is recognized that people who are diagnosed with schizophrenia often do not fully adhere with their antipsychotic prescription. The vast majority of previous research on the topic of medical adherence is limited to quantitative research methods, and in particular, to determining correlations.

OBJECTIVES

The present review was designed to describe how people who are diagnosed with schizophrenia experience and narrate pharmacological treatment with antipsychotic medication.

DESIGN

A narrative meta-synthesis.

DATA SOURCES/REVIEW METHOD

A search was conducted in three databases, PubMed, CINAHL and PsycINFO, to identify qualitative original research. Nine articles met the criteria for inclusion and were subjected to a qualitative interpretive meta-synthesis.

RESULTS

The findings showed that patients were uninformed about medication but valued talks about medication with professionals. The findings also demonstrated that patients are motivated to take medication in order to gain stability in their life and to be able to participate in life activities and in relationships. Good support, both from relatives and professionals, also motivates them to continue taking medication. The obstacles were side-effects, pressure and compulsion, and rigid organizations.

CONCLUSIONS

We advise professionals to adopt a person-centered approach to healthcare when encountering these patients and to transform the language used to describe patients from terms denoting compliance and adherence to terms denoting cooperation and alliance. Labeling patients as compliant or non-adherent may risk fortifying preconception of patients as static beings and obscure the patients' individual recovery process.

Medication adherence in schizophrenia: The role of insight, therapeutic alliance and perceived trauma associated with psychiatric care

Medication non adherence in schizophrenia is a major cause of relapse and hospitalization and remains for clinicians an important challenge. This study investigates the associations between insight, therapeutic alliance, perceived trauma related to psychiatric treatment and medication adherence in patients with schizophrenia. In this multicenter study, 72 patients were assessed regarding symptomatology, self-reported adherence with medication, insight, medication side-effects, therapeutic alliance and perceived trauma related to psychiatric treatment. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test predicted paths among these variables. The data fit a model in which medication adherence was directly predicted by insight, therapeutic alliance and perceived trauma related to psychiatric treatment. Perceived trauma moderates the role of insight on medication adherence. The final model showed good fit, based on four reliable indices. Greater adherence was correlated with higher insight, higher therapeutic alliance and lower perceived trauma. These three variables appear to be important determinants of patient's medication adherence. Medication adherence could be enhanced by reducing perceived trauma and by increasing insight. The need for mental health providers to acknowledge patients' potentially traumatic experience with psychiatric treatment and the need to encourage greater involvement in care are discussed.

Profile and Determinants of Disability in Psychotic Disorders in Nigeria

We compared profile and predictors of disability among 210 patients with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar I disorder with psychosis and depression with psychosis, respectively in a Nigerian clinical population, using the WHO Disability Assessment Schedule, (2.0). Severity of psychosis was determined with Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale, functioning was assessed using the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale, medication adherence with the Medication Adherence Questionnaire. Analyses were by SPSS 20.0. There were remarkable differences in the predictors of disability across these psychotic disorders. The findings strengthens the significance of psychosocial rehabilitation in patients with psychosis as clinical remission and medication adherence did not equate functional recovery.

Meeting in difference: Revisiting the therapeutic relationship based on patients' and therapists' experiences in several clinical contexts

Despite decades of research on the therapeutic relationship and the therapeutic alliance and their connection with therapeutic outcomes (Horvath, Del Re, Flückiger, & Symonds, 2011), only a handful of studies have examined how they are experienced by the therapy participants. The aim of the present study is to describe the therapeutic relationship from the subjective perspective of the patients and therapists involved in 3 clinical cases: (a) a 7-year-old child diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, (b) a 29-year old woman diagnosed with a personality disorder, and (c) a 22-year-old man diagnosed with schizophrenia. We conducted semistructured interviews with patients and therapists that were later analyzed following grounded theory coding procedures (Corbin & Strauss, 2008). The results obtained reveal that the constitutive elements of the therapeutic relationship are linked to 2 dimensions of the patient-therapist meeting experience: the technical and role-related dimension, characterized by relational asymmetry, and the affective exchange dimension, characterized by relational symmetry. The article discusses the possible association between the asymmetrical technical dimension, whose roles are defined by the organization of the helping relationship, and the notion of therapeutic alliance as commonly conceptualized and assessed; on the other hand, the experience of the bidirectional and symmetrical patient-therapist affective exchange is linked with concepts such as real relationship and intersubjectivity.

Patients' Knowledge about Prescribed Antipsychotics and Medication Adherence in Schizophrenia: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Introduction Data on the knowledge about antipsychotic medications prescribed in patients with schizophrenia are very limited. Moreover, it remains unclear how patients' knowledge about prescribed antipsychotics affects medication adherence. Methods ighty-one Japanese outpatients with schizophrenia according to the International Classification of Diseases, 10th edition, were included. Patients' knowledge of the primary antipsychotics prescribed to them in terms of therapeutic effects, type, and implicated neurotransmitters was assessed with a multiple-choice questionnaire developed for this study. Medication possession ratios (MPRs) were compared between patients who answered correctly and those who did not in each category. Results The percentages of subjects who answered correctly regarding antipsychotic effects, type, and implicated neurotransmitters were low at 30.9%, 30.9%, and 7.4%, respectively. No differences were found in MPRs between subjects who answered correctly and those who did not. Discussion Our preliminary results indicate that patients lack knowledge about their antipsychotic medications. More concerning, they suggest that knowledge about prescribed antipsychotics may not directly translate into actual medication adherence in patients with schizophrenia.

Clinical and cognitive insight in patients with acute-phase psychosis: Association with treatment and neuropsychological functioning

BACKGROUND

The severity of psychopathology cannot fully explain deficits in the multi-dimensional construct of insight.

AIMS

The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlates and associations of clinical and cognitive insight in patients in an acute phase of psychosis and to analyse the impact of acute treatment on these variables.

METHODS

This study examined 47 inpatients who were recently hospitalized with acute exacerbation of schizophrenia. All subjects were assessed at both admission and discharge with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), Schedule for the Assessment of Insight-Expanded Version (SAI-E), Beck Cognitive Insight Scale (BCIS), and a neurocognition battery.

RESULTS

Patients with schizophrenia gained clinical insight after treatment. Cognitive insight did not change significantly after treatment. Insight showed significant negative correlations with positive symptoms and general psychopathology, but not with negative symptoms. Clinical insight was not associated with neuropsychological functioning in this cohort.

CONCLUSION

Gaining clinical insight in the acute phase of illness was associated with the remission of positive symptoms, but not with neuropsychological functioning. Some significant correlations between clinical and cognitive insights were detected, which suggests that cognitive insight contributes to clinical insight but is not treatment-dependent. Long-term treatment may be required to understand the contribution of insight to the outcome of patients with schizophrenia.

Clinical benefits and impact of early use of long-acting injectable antipsychotics for schizophrenia

AIM

Results from clinical trials support the use of oral antipsychotics for treatment of early or first-episode psychosis in patients with schizophrenia. This paper will review literature on the advantages of early initiation of treatment for schizophrenia and the clinical benefits of early use of long-acting injectable antipsychotics (LAIs).

METHOD

A comprehensive literature review was conducted to identify published literature on the use of LAIs early in the treatment of schizophrenia.

RESULTS

Although there is a higher response rate to initial antipsychotic treatment for a first-episode of schizophrenia than with subsequent antipsychotic treatment, we have not effectively addressed this issue. Poor adherence to treatment is a primary cause of relapse and rehospitalization in subsequent years and was associated with higher relapse rates resulting in devastating effects and substantial economic burden. The costs of nonadherence were estimated to be $1.48 billion. Thus, a major challenge with the treatment of schizophrenia is changing poor adherence to persistence with antipsychotic therapy. LAIs are known to be at least as effective as oral antipsychotics for treating schizophrenia, and yet are underutilized. Further, LAIs address many of the problems associated with adherence to oral therapy. Recent evidence suggests that LAIs are effective for treating first-episode psychosis and for early initiation of treatment for schizophrenia.

CONCLUSION

Although consistent antipsychotic treatment represents a critical part of treatment, a person-centred approach to treating schizophrenia is essential for all aspects of care, including establishing and maintaining a therapeutic alliance, strengthening shared decision-making and adherence, and achieving long-lasting recovery.

The impact of negative treatment experiences on persistent refusal of antipsychotics

AIMS

We investigate reasons for persistent medication refusal in schizophrenia spectrum disorders and test whether factors that speak for a rational decision, such as negative experiences with medication or low symptom distress predict medication refusal, even after taking differences in insight into account.

METHOD

We included 45 participants with schizophrenia spectrum disorders, of which 20 had refused antipsychotic medication for at least three months and assessed reasons for taking or not taking medication, labeling condition as mental disorder ("insight"), experiences with the previous treatments, symptoms and symptom distress, positive and negative consequences and experiences of psychosis, causal beliefs, therapeutic relationships with previous clinicians and attitudes towards medication.

RESULTS

Groups did not differ in symptom severity but medication refusers reported significantly less insight, less satisfaction with their most-recent psychiatrist and with previous medication, and more negative beliefs about harmful effects of medication. They also felt less informed about medication. After controlling for insight, the perceived helpfulness of the previous treating psychiatrist (OR=0.30, z=5.58, p=0.018) and of previous medication (OR=0.27, z=6.87, p=0.009) and feeling insufficiently informed about medication (OR=0.53, z=3. 85, p=0.050) significantly predicted medication discontinuation.

CONCLUSIONS

Building rapport with patients with a different view of the nature of their condition and encouraging informed decisions on medication are likely to improve medication adherence. However, the findings also suggest that refusing medication after a phase of initial adherence is also the consequence of negative experiences with medication and could result from weighing the pros against the cons.

An integrative model of the impairments in insight in schizophrenia: emerging research on causal factors and treatments

INTRODUCTION

Poor insight, or unawareness of some major aspect of mental illness, is a major barrier to wellness when it interferes with persons seeking out treatment or forming their own understanding of the challenges they face. One barrier to addressing impaired insight is the absence of a comprehensive model of how poor insight develops.

AREAS COVERED

To explore this issue we review how poor insight is the result of multiple phenomena which interfere with the construction of narrative accounts of psychiatric challenges, rather than a single social or biological cause. Expert commentary: We propose an integrative model of poor insight in schizophrenia which involves the interaction of symptoms, deficits in neurocognition, social cognition, metacognition, and stigma. Emerging treatments for poor insight including therapies which focus on the development of metacognition are discussed.

Redefining Medication Adherence in the Treatment of Schizophrenia: How Current Approaches to Adherence Lead to Misinformation and Threaten Therapeutic Relationships

Medication adherence is as much of a problem today as it was 50 years ago. A major barrier to progress is that the definition emphasizes obedience to medication recommendations rather than shared outcome goals. As a result, schizophrenia patients are keenly aware of the social risks of disclosing nonadherence. Nondisclosure leads to misinformation, which in turn leads to serious errors in medication decisions. Another consequence is that adherence struggles may harm the therapeutic relationship. When nonadherence is inevitable, the strategy should shift to the use of harm reduction strategies that aim to preserve the therapeutic relationship while mitigating risks.

Lessons Learned From the Trial of a Cardiometabolic Health Nurse

PURPOSE

This paper examines the findings from an exit interview with a cardiometabolic health nurse (CHN) following a 26-week trial.

DESIGN AND METHODS

The CHN participated in a semi-structured exit interview following completion of the 26-week trial. Applied thematic analysis was used to identify themes contained in the resultant transcript.

FINDINGS

Contrary to the literature, the CHN did not consider additional training necessary to undertake the role. The CHN felt additional information regarding the research implications of the trial and greater organizational support would contribute to better consumer and health service outcomes.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

While personally rewarding, more can be done to help the CHN role reach its potential.

Relationship of insight with medication adherence and the impact on outcomes in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder: results from a 1-year European outpatient observational study

BACKGROUND

Many patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder have impaired insight and low medication adherence. The aim of this post hoc analysis was to explore the relationship between insight and medication adherence.

METHODS

We included 903 patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder who participated in an observational study conducted in Europe on the outcomes of patients treated with two oral formulations of olanzapine over a 1-year period. Evaluations included Clinical Global Impression (CGI), Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF), insight (Scale to Assess Unawareness of Mental Disorder, SUMD) medication adherence (Medication Adherence Rating Scale, MARS), and therapeutic alliance (Working Alliance Inventory, WAI).

RESULTS

Medication adherence was higher in bipolar patients (mean MARS score (SD) 6.5 (2.8) versus 5.8 (2.7) in schizophrenia; p < 0.001). Patients with schizophrenia had lower insight (i.e., SUMD item 1, unawareness of mental disorder, mean (SD) of 2.5 (1.3) in schizophrenia versus 1.9 (1.2) in bipolar, p < 0.001). Better insight was associated with higher adherence (Spearman Correlation Coefficient, SCC, ranging from 0.39 to 0.49 for the three SUMD general items, p < 0.0001 in all cases). Higher insight was related to a stronger therapeutic alliance (SCC ranging from 0.38 to 0.48, p < 0.0001). A path analysis revealed a positive impact of insight on adherence and alliance and that stronger alliance was related to lower clinical severity (lower CGI score).

CONCLUSION

Insight and adherence were found to be closely related. Insight impacts on the therapeutic alliance with mental health professionals. These factors are associated to treatment outcomes.

A systematic review of factors influencing adherence to antipsychotic medication in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders

Adherence to antipsychotics improves outcome in schizophrenia. There is a lack of consensus on which factors most influence adherence behaviour and methodological issues hinder interpretation of existing evidence. A rigorous systematic search designed to identify robustly implicated factors emerging from methodologically rigorous studies narrowed our search to 13 observational studies (total N=6235) relating to adherence, antipsychotics and schizophrenia. Studies varied significantly, with reported adherence rates ranging from 47.2% to 95%. Positive attitude to medication and illness insight were the only factors consistently associated with better adherence, while contradictory results were found for socio-demographic characteristics, symptom severity and side effects. Only distinct aspects of the therapeutic relationship and social support in younger patients were related to good adherence. Antipsychotic type or formulation and neurocognitive functioning did not appear to impact medication adherence. Despite greater methodological rigour in determining studies to include in the present systematic review, it remains difficult to guide clinicians in this vital area and most of the work discussed contained small sample sizes. Future research in this field should therefore prioritise prospective study designs over longer periods and larger samples in naturalistic settings, providing a more appropriate and clinically meaningful framework than widely used cross-sectional designs.

Medication adherence in patients with psychotic disorders: an observational survey involving patients before they switch to long-acting injectable risperidone

BACKGROUND

Maintaining antipsychotic therapy in psychosis is important in preventing relapse. Long-acting depot preparations can prevent covert non-adherence and thus potentially contribute to better patient outcomes. In this observational survey the main objective is to evaluate medication adherence and its determinants for oral treatment in a large sample of patients with psychosis.

METHODS

In this cross-sectional survey medication adherence for oral treatment was assessed by patients using the patient-rated Medication Adherence Questionnaire (MAQ). Data were collected by physicians on patients with a recent acute psychotic episode before switching to long-acting injectable risperidone. Other evaluations included disease severity (Clinical Global Impression - Severity), patients' insight (Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale item G12), treatment acceptance (clinician-rated Compliance Rating Scale), and therapeutic alliance (patient-rated 4-Point ordinal Alliance Scale).

RESULTS

A total of 399 psychiatrists enrolled 1,887 patients (mean age 36.8±11.9 years; 61.6% had schizophrenia). Adherence to oral medication was "low" in 53.2% of patients, "medium" in 29.5%, and "high" in 17.3%. Of patients with psychiatrist-rated active acceptance of treatment, 70% had "medium" or "high" MAQ scores (P<0.0001). Medication adherence was significantly associated with therapeutic alliance (4-Point ordinal Alliance Scale score; P<0.0001). Patient age was significantly associated with adherence: mean age increased with greater adherence (35.6, 36.7, and 38.6 years for patients with "low", "medium", and "high" levels of adherence, respectively; P=0.0007), while age <40 years was associated with "low" MAQ classification (P=0.0003). Poor adherence was also associated with a diagnosis of schizophrenia (P=0.0083), more severe disease (Clinical Global Impression - Severity ≥4; P<0.0001), and lower insight (Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale-G12 ≥4; P<0.0001).

CONCLUSION

Self-reported adherence was low in most patients, with a strong positive association between self-reported adherence and psychiatrists' assessment of treatment acceptance. Understanding factors associated with poor medication adherence may help physicians to better manage their patients, thereby improving outcomes.

Strategies to improve medication adherence in patients with schizophrenia: the role of support services

The purpose of this review is to describe research over the past 10 years on the role of support services in promoting medication adherence in mental health consumers diagnosed with schizophrenia. A literature search was conducted using the terms "medication adherence," "schizophrenia," and "support services," using Medline, PubMed, and CINAHL. Reference lists from published studies were also reviewed to identify additional research studies. Twenty-two articles focused on support-service intervention studies, and these were selected for review. Available support-service interventions include adherence therapy, electronic reminders via text messages and telephones, cognitive-behavioral and motivational strategies, and financial incentives. Support-service intervention strategies need to be tailored to the specific needs of mental health consumers with schizophrenia. More research is needed to investigate effective support services to enhance long-term adherence and adherence to medications for medical illnesses in this population.

Effects of antipsychotic drugs on insight in schizophrenia

Lack of insight is predominant in schizophrenia though the causes are still unclear. The present study was carried on to investigate the effect of three Second Generation Antipsychotics (SGAs) and Haloperidol on insight and the associations among different clusters of symptoms and insight. Fifty-five patients have been recruited at the moment of pharmacological switch needed for psychotic exacerbation, from other antipsychotic drugs to Olanzapine, Aripiprazole, Ziprasidone and Haloperidol. Patients have been followed for 6 months and evaluated at baseline, after 3 months and after 6 months. Regarding the insight improvement, all SGAs resulted more effective than Haloperidol, while no difference was detected among different SGAs. Concerning psychopathology, all SGAs showed a better efficacy than Haloperidol, positive symptoms apart. All SGAs showed a similar efficacy on all domains, except for negative symptoms which resulted less responsive to ziprasidone and haloperidol. An association between improvement of insight and psychopathology was detected. Furthermore, insight appears to be related to psychopathology severity, particularly to negative symptoms. However, the observed different effectiveness of Ziprasidone on negative symptoms and insight suggests that these psychopathological features may be not strictly related and, thus, they may be sustained by different psychopathological processes.

Tackling nonadherence in psychiatric disorders: current opinion

Nonadherence to treatment is a major challenge in all fields of medicine, and it has been claimed that increasing the effectiveness of adherence interventions may have far greater impact on the health of the population than any improvement in specific medical treatments. However, despite widespread use of terms such as adherence and compliance, there is little agreement on definitions or measurements. Nonadherence can be intermittent or continuous, voluntary or involuntary, and may be specific to single or multiple interventions, which makes reliable measurement problematic. Both direct and indirect methods of assessment have their limitations. The current literature focuses mainly on psychotic disorders. A large number of trials of various psychological, social, and pharmacologic interventions has been reported. The results are mixed, but interventions specifically designed to improve adherence with a more intensive and focused approach and interventions combining elements from different approaches such as cognitive-behavioral therapy, family-based, and community-based approaches have shown better outcomes. Pharmacologic interventions include careful drug selection, switching when a treatment is not working, dose adjustment, simplifying the treatment regimen, and the use of long-acting injections. The results for the most studied pharmacologic intervention, ie, long-acting injections, are far from clear, and there are discrepancies between randomized controlled trials, nationwide cohort studies, and mirror-image studies. Nonadherence with treatment is often paid far less attention in routine clinical practice and psychiatric training. Strategies to measure and improve adherence in clinical practice are based more on personal experience than on research evidence. This overview focuses on strategies used for improving treatment adherence in psychiatric disorders in the light of current evidence, with emphasis on public health aspects of treatment adherence and the management of nonadherence in routine clinical practice.

Explaining attitudes and adherence to antipsychotic medication: the development of a process model

Although nonadherence to antipsychotic medication poses a threat to outcome of medical treatment, the processes preceding the intake behavior have not been investigated sufficiently. This study tests a process model of medication adherence derived from the Health Belief Model which is based on cost-benefit considerations. The model includes an extensive set of potential predictors for medication attitudes and uses these attitudes as a predictor for medication adherence. We conducted an online study of 84 participants with a self-reported psychotic disorder and performed a path analysis. More insight into the need for treatment, a higher attribution of the symptoms to a mental disorder, experience of less negative side effects, presence of biological causal beliefs, and less endorsement of psychological causal beliefs were significant predictors of more positive attitudes towards medication. The results largely supported the postulated process model. Mental health professionals should consider attitudes towards medication and the identified predictors when they address adherence problems with the patient in a shared and informed decision process.

Poor insight into schizophrenia: contributing factors, consequences and emerging treatment approaches

Poor insight or unawareness of illness has been commonly observed in schizophrenia and has been long recognized as a potent barrier to treatment adherence and a risk factor for a range of poorer outcomes. Paradoxically, the achievement of insight often poses a different set of problems including depression and low self-esteem. One barrier to the treatment of poor insight has been a lack of understanding of the phenomenon, which causes poor insight to develop and persist over time. Without knowing what promotes poor insight, treatment to date has had little to offer beyond the supportive provision of information. To explore these issues, this article reviews emerging literature on the correlates of poor insight in schizophrenia, and newly developing ways of conceptualizing insight. It then details a number of innovative integrative group and individual treatment approaches in the early stages of development, which take into account some of the potential causal forces behind poor insight, including deficits in neurocognition, social cognition, metacognition and heightened self-stigma. A plan for further research is presented to develop a model of the factors whose interaction influences insight, and to refine and test integrative treatments.

Medication nonadherence and psychiatry

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Nonadherence to appropriately prescribed medication for psychiatric disorders prevents patients from realizing the full benefits of their treatment and negatively impacts on individuals, their families and the healthcare system. Understanding and reducing nonadherence is therefore a key challenge to quality care for patients with psychiatric disorders. This review highlights findings regarding the prevalence and consequence of nonadherence, barriers to adherence and new intervention methods from 2012 onwards.

RECENT FINDINGS

Recent research has highlighted that nonadherence is a global challenge for psychiatry and has linked nonadherence to poorer outcomes, including hospital admissions, suicide and mortality. Optimizing medication regimens can reduce nonadherence; however, often a complex interplay of factors affects individuals' motivation and ability to follow their prescription. Psychiatrists can enable patients to develop an accurate model of their illness and treatment and facilitate adherence. However, nonadherence is often a hidden issue within consultations. Novel interventions using new technologies and tailoring techniques may have the potential to reduce nonadherence.

SUMMARY

Nonadherence remains a significant challenge for patients with psychiatric disorders, physicians and healthcare systems. New developments demonstrate the importance of developing tailored interventions to enable patients to overcome perceptual and practical barriers to adherence.