How to improve adherence to antipsychotic treatment: Outcomes of the IMproving PAtient outComes in psychiaTry (IMPACT) Berlin 2009 meeting workshop

What are patients' experiences of discontinuing clozapine and how does this impact their views on subsequent treatment?

BACKGROUND

Discontinuing what is considered the most effective treatment for treatment-resistant schizophrenia may precipitate feelings of failure or a relapse of illness. Clozapine treatment is discontinued for a variety of reasons, including non-adherence, intolerance, or lack of efficacy. Patients' experiences of discontinuing the "best" treatment and the impact on perceptions of subsequent antipsychotic treatment are important in developing an understanding of the factors affecting people's treatment choices. This study is the first of its type, seeking to explore people's perspectives on clozapine discontinuation.

METHOD

Semi-structured interviews with sixteen patients who had received clozapine and discontinued treatment-thirteen males and three females, age range: thirty-two to seventy-eight years old-were audio-recorded and transcribed. A modified inductive approach to analysis, based on grounded theory, was taken to identify commonalities and differences in patients' perceptions.

RESULTS

The three main themes identified from participants' experiences were: (1) positive and negative effects of treatment; (2) feelings of agency, being the capacity to make decisions about treatment and act independently; (3) choice of treatment in the future. Participants exhibited agency in making choices about medication, including risking relapse, while attempting self-management of medication effects. Different participants perceived the same side effect as beneficial or intolerable. Variation in subsequent treatment choices was reported, with some participants favouring depot (long-acting) injections. A participant was frightened when not told about clozapine's side effects, which led to the participant not being engaged in future treatment decisions. Others, despite suffering serious adverse effects, retained positive perceptions of clozapine; they experienced despair at finding an effective alternative.

CONCLUSIONS

Experiences with clozapine discontinuation evoked powerful emotions and resulted in clozapine being the benchmark for other treatments. Knowledge, agency, and being in control were important to participants in relation to treatment. Personal perceptions of treatments or beliefs about illness could lead to non-adherence. People value the clinician listening to their experiences to better understand their perspective, enabling concerns about medication to be addressed through true shared decision making.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

NHS Health Research Authority and Health and Care Research Wales, IRAS Project ID 225753, Research Ethics Committee (REC) reference: 18/NW/0413, 25/06/2018.

Effectiveness of Adherence Therapy for People With Schizophrenia in Turkey: A Controlled Study

OBJECTIVE

This study used a quasi-experimental design with a pretest-posttest control group and follow-up to determine the efficacy of adherence therapy in patients with schizophrenia in Turkey.

METHODS

The sample of this study consisted of patients with schizophrenia (n=30). The Questionnaire Form, Medication Adherence Rating Scale, Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness Scale, and Beck Cognitive Insight Scale were used. The patients were assigned to experimental (n=15) and control (n=15) groups using the randomization method. The experimental group received adherence therapy in eight sessions.

RESULTS

When the scores of the patients in the experimental and control groups were compared at the pretest, posttest, and 3- and 6-months follow ups, a significant difference was only found in the Medication Adherence Rating Scale posttest scores.

CONCLUSION

Adherence therapy is effective in improving adherence to treatment but is not effective with regard to insight and internalized stigma in patients with schizophrenia.

Effect of a Multi-Dimensional and Inter-Sectoral Intervention on the Adherence of Psychiatric Patients

BACKGROUND

In psychiatry, hospital stays and transitions to the ambulatory sector are susceptible to major changes in drug therapy that lead to complex medication regimens and common non-adherence among psychiatric patients. A multi-dimensional and inter-sectoral intervention is hypothesized to improve the adherence of psychiatric patients to their pharmacotherapy.

METHODS

269 patients from a German university hospital were included in a prospective, open, clinical trial with consecutive control and intervention groups. Control patients (09/2012-03/2013) received usual care, whereas intervention patients (05/2013-12/2013) underwent a program to enhance adherence during their stay and up to three months after discharge. The program consisted of therapy simplification and individualized patient education (multi-dimensional component) during the stay and at discharge, as well as subsequent phone calls after discharge (inter-sectoral component). Adherence was measured by the "Medication Adherence Report Scale" (MARS) and the "Drug Attitude Inventory" (DAI).

RESULTS

The improvement in the MARS score between admission and three months after discharge was 1.33 points (95% CI: 0.73-1.93) higher in the intervention group compared to controls. In addition, the DAI score improved 1.93 points (95% CI: 1.15-2.72) more for intervention patients.

CONCLUSION

These two findings indicate significantly higher medication adherence following the investigated multi-dimensional and inter-sectoral program.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

German Clinical Trials Register DRKS00006358.

Adherence in psychiatry

The word 'adherence' refers to the provision of consistent support (eg. for a political party or religion) or the act of holding particular elements together (eg. in constructing a building). In the medical context, adherence refers to the extent to which patients take their medications as prescribed. While the terminology related to medical adherence has changed significantly over the past two millennia, the core issue has not. Most recently, the term 'adherence' has replaced the term 'compliance', although it still jostles with 'concordance' in a growing literature which focuses now, as always, on one key question: why do so many people seek treatment for illness but then decide not to take their prescribed medication? This is an important question, both in terms of public health and societal cost: in the US, up to 50% of patients do not take their prescribed medications, resulting in additional healthcare costs of $290 billion per year. The greatest cost of non-adherence, however, relates to prolonged illness, increased rates of relapse and reduced wellness.

Telephone-based nursing strategy to improve adherence to antipsychotic treatment in schizophrenia: A controlled trial

Abstract Objective. Adherence to prescribed antipsychotic medication is a major factor in achieving optimal long-term clinical outcomes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of a telephone-based strategy provided by a nurse on adherence to antipsychotic treatment among patients with schizophrenia. Methods. A total of 928 clinically stable outpatients with schizophrenia were randomized to receive a monthly telephone call by a nurse or routine clinical care. Telephone calls were performed at weeks 4, 8, and 12, consisting of a standardized interview to detect and assess therapeutic adherence and subjective attitude towards medication. Patients were followed for 4 months. A cut-point of ≥ 60% of prescribed dose was used to classify patients as being adherent. Results. At week 16, a significantly higher percentage of patients who received a telephone-based follow-up (96.7%, n = 410) were classified as adherent compared to the control group (91.2%, n = 402) (P = 0.0007). Patients in the intervention group were significantly more likely to be adherent than control group (adjusted OR = 3.3 95% CI 1.6-6.6, P = 0.0001). Conclusions. Telephone-based nursing strategy showed a significant improvement in adherence to antipsychotic drugs. Further studies are necessary to confirm if this kind of intervention could be a complementary strategy to optimize adherence in patients with schizophrenia.