Abstract

Background: There are very few studies in the literature highlighting the factors responsible for non-adherence to drugs. In spite of many advances in the pharmacotherapy of mental disorders, non-adherence to drugs still remains as a critical and challenging task which hampers the psychiatric patient’s quality of life with poor clinical outcomes.

Aim and Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the drug medication adherence and assessment of quality of life in psychiatric disorder patients.

Materials and Methods: The study was conducted over a period of 3 months at outpatient department of Psychiatry. Before the conduct of the study, informed consent was taken. Patients diagnosed with psychiatric illness and consuming at least one psychotropic drug for more than a month were enrolled. Medication adherence and non-adherence were evaluated by medication rating scale. Quality of life parameter was assessment by satisfaction Questionnaire-Short Form scale.

Results: In the present study, it was observed that 22% of the psychiatric patients were non-adherence to drug treatment. It was interesting to find that 34% of the patients opined lack of insight about their illness. About 26% of the psychiatric patients had a negative medication attitude toward drug treatment and 15% of them opined that they do not have family support. The overall sense of well-being which was assessed by the quality of life enjoyment and satisfaction scores among adherent and non-adherent patients was 8.81 ± 0.66 and 3.00 ± 0.36, respectively which was statistically significant.

Conclusion: It was observed that 22% of the psychiatric patients showed non-adherence to drug treatment. Lack of patient’s insight about the illness, their negative attitude needs necessary steps to be taken to reduce non-adherence patterns. Specific measures can be adopted to increase the quality of life enjoyment and satisfaction in psychiatric patients.

Key words: Psychiatric Patients; Quality of Life; Drug non-adherence