[Strategies for measuring medication adherence in patients with schizophrenia].

ABSTRACT

Long-term therapy should be administrated for patients with schizophrenia and the medication adherence is very important for the prognosis and outcome in these patients. In this study, we screened the literatures from various databases in accordance with our search criteria. A total of 11 literatures with the results of reliability and validity regarding the measurement of schizophrenia medication adherence were enrolled in our analysis. Based on the measurements, they were classified into subjective methods and objective ones. The objective methods include blood plasma and urine concentrations, pharmacy records, pill counts and Medication Event Monitoring System. The subjective methods include Drug Attitude Inventory, Rating of Medication Influences Scale, Brief Evaluation of Medication Influences and Beliefs, the Brief Adherence Rating Scale, Medication Adherence Rating Scale, and Morisky scales. In general, single method for measuring medication adherence in patients with schizophrenia is limited. We recommend researchers to use 2 or more methods when measuring the medication adherence in patients with schizophrenia.