Do I need treatment? Insight and therapy adherence in a group of patients in treatment with aripiprazole long acting injectable

Abstract

Introduction

Relapse prevention is one of the major goals in psychiatry because it will mark the prognosis and quality of life in patients. In this aspect, plays a very important role insight and adherence to treatment. Some studies show that long acting injectable treatments improve adherence as compared with oral medications.

Objective

The objective of this study is to analyse the degree of insight and adherence to treatment of a group of patients with aripiprazole long acting injectable ALAI treatment.

Methodology

Descriptive study in a group of patients treated with ALAI. Three months of follow-up. To assess the insight we had use the 3 first items of the Unawareness of Mental Disorder SUMD. Adherence to treatment is evaluated by monitoring if patients come to administrate ALAI.

Results

n = 6, 2 women (33.3%) and 4 men (66.7%). The mean age of the sample was 37 years. Diagnoses were 4 patients with psychotic disorder (66.7%;) 2 with bipolar disorder (33.3%). At the SUMD, mean score for the items consciousness of having a disorder and awareness of the effects of medication was 3, and for the item awareness of the social consequences of mental disorder 4. The mean score for the total punctuation was 10. Five (83.3%) had a 100% of adherence, just 1 patient discontinued de treatment on the third month.

Conclusions

On our sample adherence, it was almost complete in all patients. To highlight the scores for SUMD which means low insight. A large sample is required to increase the reliability of the study.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.