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Adherence therapy following an acute episode of schizophrenia: a multi-centre randomised controlled trial
Michael Schulz1, Richard Gray, Alexa Spiekermann
1University of Applied Sciences-Welfare and Social Work, Bielefeld, Germany.
Background:
Non-adherence with antipsychotic medication is common in patients with schizophrenia.
Aims:
To establish the efficacy of adherence therapy (AT) compared to treatment as usual (TAU) in improving medication compliance in patients following an acute episode of schizophrenia.
Method:
The study was designed as a parallel group, single blind, randomised controlled trial. Fieldwork was conducted in four centres (3 in Germany and 1 in Switzerland) and involved a total of 161 patients. Patients received 8 sessions of AT in addition to treatment as usual. The main outcomes of this study were adherence and psychopathology at 12 weeks post discharge follow up.
Results:
In total 80 patients received AT and 57 TAU. Intention-to-treat analysis included all randomised patients. Psychopathology, as determined using the PANSS-total, improved in the AT compared to TAU group by a mean of -6.16 points 12 weeks after discharge from hospital (p<.05). AT had no significant effects on patients' adherence, treatment attitudes or functioning. No significant adverse events were reported.
Conclusion:
AT improves psychopathology in patients recovering from an acute episode of schizophrenia.
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