Medication Adherence in Adolescents with Psychiatric Disorders

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Adolescent Medicine
• Pharmacology

Background:

• Adherence to psychotropic medication in adolescents with psychiatric disorders is crucial for treatment efficacy.
• Understanding factors influencing adherence and parent-child agreement on treatment attitudes is essential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between adolescent psychotropic medication adherence and demographic/socioeconomic factors.
• To assess the concordance between adolescent self-reports and parent assessments of attitudes toward treatment.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from the multicenter SEMA study.
• Employed the Questionnaire on Attitudes Toward Treatment (QATT) and Medication Adherence Rating Scale (MARS) (patient and parent versions).
• Collected demographic and socioeconomic data from 75 adolescents.

Main Results:

• 60% of adolescents achieved complete medication adherence.
• Monotherapy was associated with higher adherence rates compared to combination therapy.
• No significant association found between adherence and demographic or socioeconomic factors.
• Slight to fair consensus (κ = 0.157–0.205) between adolescents and parents regarding treatment attitudes.

Conclusions:

• Incomplete medication adherence is prevalent in adolescents with psychiatric disorders and requires further investigation.
• Demographic and socioeconomic factors do not appear to influence adherence.
• Adolescents' subjective treatment attitudes may be underestimated by parents, necessitating focused research.