Effect of Medication Education on Drug Adherence with Mental Disorders: A Clinical Trial Study

Introduction: One of the main goals of treatment in patients with mental disorders is compliance with drug therapy because non-compliance of the drug causes relapse of the disease and disrupts the treatment process. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of pharmacotherapy training on drug availability in patients with mental disorders. Methods: In this clinical trial study, 80 patients with Mental Disorders diagnosed in Farshchian Hospital in Hamadan, Iran, from October to February 2017 participated. Participants in the study were randomly divided into two experimental (40) and control (40) groups. In the intervention group, medication education was administered in four sessions of an hour in group (each group of 10). The control group received routine nursing care. Patients' adherence with drug therapies was checked by using the checklist for observing drug compliance before and after the intervention. Data analysis was performed using descriptive and inferential statistics in SPSS software version 24. Results: The two groups did not differ significantly in terms of personal characteristics (P > 0.05). Mean and standard deviation of drug compliance score before and after intervention in experimental group was 0.55 ± 4.03 and control group was1.50 ± 4.34, which did not show significant difference (P = 0.306). After the intervention, the difference in mean and standard deviation of drug adherence score was statistically significant in the experimental group (5.02 ± 3.27) and control (1.17 ± 3.53) (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Medication education interventions have had a positive effect on drug dependence in patients with psychiatric disorders. Therefore, it is suggested that more attention be paid to educating patients about nursing care in nursing care programs.