Open AccessMedication Adherence in Adolescents with Psychiatric Disorders
Author(s) -
Clara Both,
Konstantin Mechler,
Larissa Niemeyer,
Christine Jennen-Steinmetz,
Sarah Hohmann,
Lucca Schumm,
Regina Dittmann,
Alexander Häge
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
zeitschrift für kinder- und jugendpsychiatrie und psychotherapie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.215
H-Index - 24
eISSN - 1664-2880
pISSN - 1422-4917
DOI - 10.1024/1422-4917/a000813
Subject(s) - socioeconomic status , medication adherence , medicine , psychiatry , clinical psychology , population , environmental health
. Objective: This study investigates whether adolescents’ adherence to psychotropic medication is associated with demographic and socioeconomic factors, and to what extent parents’ assessments of their offspring’s attitudes toward treatment correspond with the adolescents’ self-report. Methods: This study is part of the multicenter SEMA study (Subjective Experience and Medication Adherence in Adolescents with Psychiatric Disorders). Adolescents’ subjective attitudes toward medication and their adherence were assessed using the patient and parent versions of the QATT (Questionnaire on Attitudes Toward Treatment) and the MARS (Medication Adherence Rating Scale). Furthermore, we collected socioeconomic and demographic data. Results: Of the n = 75 adolescents included in the study, n = 45 (60 %) were classified as completely adherent. Patients receiving monotherapy were more often completely adherent than those receiving a combination of different medications. There was no statistically significant association between adherence and demographic or socioeconomic factors. Consensus between adolescents and their parents regarding adolescents’ attitudes toward treatment ranged from slight (κ = 0.157) to fair (κ = 0.205). Conclusion: Incomplete medication adherence in adolescents with psychiatric disorders is a common phenomenon and still poorly understood. Demographic and socioeconomic factors do not seem to be relevant in this respect. However, adolescents’ subjective attitudes towards medication, which parents are presumably unable to adequately assess, warrant more careful consideration in future research.