[Pharmacological treatment and health control beliefs from the perspective of psychiatric patients: differences in attitudes].

Abstract

Introduction: Patients' attitudes towards psychiatric treatment have an important influence on therapeutic outcome. Health beliefs and the patient's attitude towards the psychiatrist and medical treatment are determined by several factors about which there is only a scarce knowledge. In our study we used the Patient's Health Belief Questionnaire on Psychiatric Treatment, PHBQPT) to assess the beliefs and attitudes of patients suffering from psychiatric disorders.

Methods: We recruited 115 inpatients from the Nyírő Gyula National Institute of Psychiatry and Addictions. Patients were categorized into 5 classes based on ICD-10 (addictions-F1x; psychotic disorders-F2x; affective disorders-F3x; anxiety disorders-F4x; and personality disorders-F6x). Subjects voluntarily and anonymously completed the PHBQPT questionnaire and answered 4 additional items regarding their opinion about the efficacy of drugs and the placebo effect. We compared the scores of the items and the total scores of subscales of the PHBQPT scale between disorder categories using ANOVA tests.

Results: Total scores did not diff er significantly in our sample compared to those in the publication of the original version of the PHBQPT scale. The most robust diff erences were found between patients with addictions and psychotic patients on the external and internal control subscales. F1x subgroup could also be distinguished from other psychiatric disorders on certain health belief related items. However, patients with personality disorder and affective disorder felt that the efficacy of medications in general was the weakest. The impression that in the drug effect is individually modified in case of a given patient was more frequent in the F1x and F2x groups and rare in the group of subjects with anxiety disorders and personality disorders.

Conclusion: The Hungarian version of the PHBQPT can be used in case of Hungarian psychiatric patients; the similarity shown by the results points at the fact that attitude towards treatment is independent of cultural and healthcare system diff erences. Our results highlight that there are variances between different psychiatric disorders in health belief and attitude towards drug treatment. Our study emphasizes the importance of thorough assessment of patients' attitude that is necessary to conceive an effective adherence improving intervention.