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Description
Non-compliance encompasses various behaviours and attitudes, ranging from outright rejection of drug therapy to incorrect usage or premature discontinuation, potentially impacting symptom severity. In psychiatric settings, patients' reluctance to adhere to medication may stem from a lack of insight, fostering unfavourable views on pharmacotherapy. This study explores the connections between adherence to antidepressant drugs, insight, and attitudes toward medication. The participant pool included both inpatients and outpatients, including individuals with defined psychiatric diagnoses and excluding those with intellectual disabilities, major neurocognitive disorders, or psychotic acute relapses. The sample was made of 41 patients diagnosed with mood disorders, both unipolar (90.2%) and bipolar depression (9.8%). It included 22 female and 19 males. The mean age was 51.5 (SD=15.6), ranging from 22 to 83 years old. Adherence was assessed using the Brief Adherence Rating Scale's (BARS) Visual Analog Scale (VAS) item, attitude towards drugs with the Drug Attitude Inventory (DAI), and insight with the Insight Orientation Scale (IOS). Analysis revealed a significant direct correlation between adherence and drug attitude (ρ=0.844; p=<.001). Adherence showed a significant direct correlation with both DAI subscales which assess subjective responses to antipsychotics (ρ=0.633; p=<.001) and subjective attitude towards treatment (ρ=0.756; p<.001). While the IOS scale lacked a significant correlation with BARS total score and DAI global score, it did exhibit a significant correlation with DAI factor II (ρ=0.348; p=0.026). These findings emphasize the central role of patients' drug attitudes in influencing medication adherence.
