Pharmacological and non-pharmacological factors affecting the adhesion to treatment of schizophrenic discharged patients from mental institution of University Hospital in Neiva between january and june 2008

Abstract

Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder characterized by a fundamental personality disturbance,

distortion of thought, perception alteration, inappropriate emotional responses and certain level of autism. This pathology affects mainly people at working age having a high impact on patient’s quality of life and family and social environment.

 This study described the behavior of the pharmacological and non-pharmacological factors altering the adhesion to treatment of 85 schizophrenic patients from the Mental Institution (MI), of the Hernando Moncaleano University Hospital in Neiva (HMUH). Data from the medical history were collected and a telephone survey was carried out on a patient’s relative, accompanying person or the same patient. It was found that most surveyed patients were young adults, masculine, single, coming from Huila, with low schooling and are not working at present. Besides there is a bad level of adhesion to treatment which is directly proportional to the patient‘s level of introspection, to the family and/or social support, to the prescription of atypical antipsychotics and to the good doctor-patient relationship. Likewise, this level is inversely proportionate to psychoactive substances consumption, to the prescription of typical drugs and to the presence of adverse reactions.

Knowledge of these behaviors is a precedent for further research and also a starting point to design strategies in order to improve the adhesion to treatment on the part of schizophrenic patients from an integral and individual point of view at the same time.