The therapeutic relationship and adherence to antipsychotic medication in schizophrenia

Objective

Previous research has shown that a better therapeutic relationship (TR) predicts more positive attitudes towards antipsychotic medication, but did not address whether it is also linked with actual adherence. This study investigated whether the TR is associated with adherence to antipsychotics in patients with schizophrenia.

Methods

134 clinicians and 507 of their patients with schizophrenia or a related psychotic disorder participated in a European multi-centre study. A logistic regression model examined how the TR as rated by patients and by clinicians is associated with medication adherence, adjusting for clinician clustering and symptom severity.

Results

Patient and clinician ratings of the TR were weakly inter-correlated (r_s = 0.13, p = 0.004), but each was independently linked with better adherence. After adjusting for patient rated TR and symptom severity, each unit increase in clinician rated TR was associated with an increase of the odds ratio of good compliance by 65.9% (95% CI: 34.6% to 104.5%). After adjusting for clinician rated TR and symptom severity, for each unit increase in patient rated TR the odds ratio of good compliance was increased by 20.8% (95% CI: 4.4% to 39.8%).

Conclusions

A better TR is associated with better adherence to medication among patients with schizophrenia. Patients'' and clinicians'' perspectives of the TR are both important, but may reflect distinct aspects.     

Acutely Suicidal Patients—Management in General Medical Practice

Suicidal crises are best understood as late stages in the progressive breakdown of adaptational behavior in emotionally exhausted patients. The premonitory symptoms of suicide include verbal communications, suicide attempts, symptomatic actions, depression, treatment failure, excessive emotional reactions to specific disease states and panic reactions.Of persons who committed suicide, 75 per cent had seen a physician within six months. To recognize and evaluate suicide danger the physician must not be afraid to question the patient directly about his suicidal plans. The average physician encounters half a dozen suicidal patients a year and will have 10 to 12 suicides in his practice during a long career.In treating suicidal patients, the physician should maintain his medical attitude. The patients need emergency medical care including appropriate drugs. Free communication between patient and physician is very important. This may take some extra time. Patients benefit from emergency psychological support and stimulation toward constructive action. Family, friends, and community agencies should be mobilized to aid the patient. For seriously suicidal patients, consultation is recommended and treatment in hospital is advisable.     

Effects of self medication programme on knowledge of drugs and compliance with treatment in elderly patients.

OBJECTIVE--To determine whether a programme of self medication for inpatients improves compliance with treatment and knowledge of their drugs after discharge from hospital. DESIGN--Patients were prospectively recruited from four wards: two with a self medication programme and two acting as controls. Ten days after discharge the patients were visited at home. They were questioned about their drugs, and a tablet count was undertaken. SETTING--The pharmacy department and four medical wards with an interest in elderly patients at a district general hospital, and the patients'' homes. PATIENTS--88 patients discharged to their own homes who were regularly taking one or more drugs. INTERVENTION--A hospital self medication programme in which patients are educated about their medicines and given increasing responsibility for taking them in hospital. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Compliance with and knowledge of the purpose of their medicines 10 days after discharge from hospital. RESULTS--The mean compliance score in patients taking part in the self medication programme was 95% compared with 83% in the control group (difference 12%, 95% confidence interval 4% to 21%; P < 0.02). Of the patients in the self medication group, 90% (38/42) knew the purpose of their drugs compared with 46% (17/37) in the control group (difference 44%, 26% to 63%; P < 0.001). CONCLUSION--A self medication programme is an effective aid for improving compliance with and knowledge of patients'' drugs after discharge.     

Prise en charge du premier épisode psychotique : le patient partenaire

Early recognition and effective management of the first episode of psychosis in a patient with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder is key in preventing further psychotic episodes. Patients’ denial of illness makes it difficult to establish early diagnosis and makes them unwilling to accept treatment after first episodes of psychosis. Many different reasons lead to poor compliance, resulting in high relapse rates within five years of recovery from the first episode, the risk of suicide, increased risk of violence, and increased impairment of occupational and social functioning. Second generation antipsychotic drugs prescribed at the early stages of illness represents a major advancement in the management of schizophrenia, with a lower propensity to develop extrapyramidal symptoms and tardive dyskinesia. These agents have become the preferred treatment option in most patients. Low doses of these medications at the early stages of the illness appear to help patients accept their illnesses better in the medium and long terms. Long-acting injectable formulations of atypical antipsychotic drugs (long-acting risperidone injection) offer the benefit of the efficacy and tolerance of the newer agents, together with the security of consistent delivery. This new potential treatment option for first-episode psychosis patients is the focus of this review. However, the advantages of such formulations clearly depend on patient acceptance of an injection and family support. Therefore, the attitude of the medical team impacts the patient’s attitude toward the injection. More attention must be focused on user and provider attitudes as well as treatment satisfaction. However, important issues must still be addressed, including the need for better solutions that address treatment non-compliance.     

Medical Care of the Alcoholic Patient

Alcoholism is an illness that constitutes a major health problem at all levels of society. The physician should accept his responsibility to prevent it and to care for the alcoholic. If he knows that one of his patients is drinking immoderately, he should warn him of the outlook. A patient''s acquired dependence on alcohol may be overt, or revealed only on examination for organic disease or emotional disturbance. The diagnosis may be accepted reluctantly, or denied despite positive evidence, but the patient should be persuaded to give up drinking. He may require psychiatric help or advice from a social worker. He may be so ill as to require treatment in hospital, and hospitals must recognize the urgency of such admissions. Discharge from hospital does not end treatment, for alcoholism is a chronic disease, requiring long-term planning, persistent follow-up and enduring sympathy by the physician, who must always be as available to his alcoholic patient as he is to his patient with diabetes, epilepsy or cardiac disease.     

Attitudes towards justifying intimate partner violence among married women in bangladesh

Summary This study examines women's attitude towards intimate partner violence among 331 Bangladeshi women in five selected disadvantaged areas of Dhaka city. This study used a shorter version of the Inventory of Beliefs about Wife Beating (IBWB) to measure women's attitude towards intimate partner violence. The results revealed that the mean score on the wife-beating scale of 15 items was 7.81 (SD=4.893). Significant amounts of the variance (42.9%) in women's attitude towards intimate partner violence can be attributed to respondent's education (B=-0.60, p<0.001), husband's education (B=-1.251, p<0.01), exposure to mass media (B=-1.251, p<0.01), respondent's current age (B=0.081, p<0.05), age at marriage (B=0.215, p<0.01), intimate partner violence victimization within the last 12 months (B=-1.533, p<0.001) and women receiving micro-credit (small-scale loan or financial assistance) (B= -2.214, p<0.001). The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings.     

胃食管反流病患者自我管理行为依从性及其影响因素调查

目的：调查分析胃食管反流病患者自我管理行为依从性情况及其影响因素。方法：选取2010年2月-2012年6月来我院就诊治疗的胃食管反流患者150例,利用自我行为管理量表、自我效能量表、焦虑自评量表（SAs）及抑郁自评量表（SDS）进行调查,并采用单因素分析及多因素分析法分析其影响因素。结果：所有150例患者的自我行为管理平均得分为37．12＋4．95分,处于中下游水平,其中治疗依从性较好而疾病知识认知方面较差;而从单因素及多因素分析中得知,胃食管反流病患者自我行为依从性的影响因素主要为自我效能、工作学习压力及文化程度（偏回顾系数=0．301、-2．264、1．403）。结论：胃食管返流病患者的自我管理行为依从性较差,这与其文化程度较低、工作学习压力较大有关,医务人员应指导患者减轻工作学习压力,改善生活方式以提高其自我管理行为依从性。     

Health Culture and the Clinical Encounter: Vietnamese Refugees'' Responses to Preventive Drug Treatment of Inactive Tuberculosis

A majority of Vietnamese refugees entering the United States test positive for inactive tuberculosis (TB). In asymptomatic conditions like inactive TB, it is often difficult to obtain compliance with medical treatment. The clinical encounter has been analyzed as a form of symbolic action between doctor and patient critical to patient trust and compliance. However, it is equally, if not more, important to understand the health culture of patients, that is, the broader sociocultural context of the patient within which his or her illness is interpreted and understood. In this article I look at health culture elements that influence compliance and noncompliance by Vietnamese American clients with courses of preventive drug therapy for inactive TB. Key factors in compliance are: (1) cultural interpretations of the therapy's side effects as "hot"; (2) the role of family members and peers; and (3) community perceptions of the drug treatment. Culturally incongruent elements of the clinical encounter and the funding of community-based organizations for health education also are examined.     

L’insight et les schizophrénies: un paradoxe?

The aim of this paper is to focus on the concept of “insight” in schizophrenia. Insight corresponds to an interior view of oneself and its relationships to the world, and is directed from the exterior to the interior world. This view is linked with the concepts of truth, discovery and clarity. The study of the insight concept in regards to schizophrenia is paradoxical. Psychoanalytical, phenomenological and empirical models show that there are three different levels of analysis: (a) the patient, with his or her troubled mind and the individual factors of expression, (b) the physician, with his or her own beliefs, knowledge about the disease, personal emotions, experience and attitudes, (c) the interaction between physician and patient. In most recent psychometric studies, insight is restricted to the evaluation of the degree of the patient’s acceptance of his or her disease. This restriction shows a multidimensional phenomenon, which varies according to time and is disturbed by schizophrenia. Insight is correlated with the symptoms of the disease, with IQ, with the acute stages of the schizophrenia disease, with acting out, and with the frequency of hospitalisation, especially when nonvoluntary. However, results differ concerning the correlation of insight with suicide, cognitive functions and cerebral anatomy. From the point of view of clinical practice, it is the psychiatrist’s insight which plays an important role in the process of the emergence of the patient’s insight. To objectively study this process, more complex models are necessary, which would imply further developments in the theory of psychiatric practice.     

Survey of general practitioners' attitudes to management of patients with heart attacks.

Out of 305 general practitioners sent a questionnaire asking how they would treat three hypothetical patients with heart attacks 231 (76%) replied. Of these, only 179 were prepared to make an unqualified choice of home or hospital treatment for a middle-aged man with an uncomplicated attack, 70 (39%) saying that they would keep the patient at home. Practitioners qualifying before 1960 were more likely to do this than those qualifying in 1960 or later. If a patient declined hospital treatment 161 (70%) of the practitioners would keep him in bed for a week or less, but the date of the practitioners'' qualification significantly affected the time they would advise him to remain off work. Faced with a patient acutely ill after a heart attack, 162 (70%) of the practitioners would arrange his immediate admission to hospital and 51 (22%) would send him to hospital after initial treatment at home. The numbers of partners in the practice, the nature of the premises, and the location of the practice in urban or rural areas affected the practitioners'' attitude to the management of severely ill patients but not to the management of patients with uncomplicated attacks.     

老年冠心病护理健康教育对策及应用效果分析

目的：分析老年冠心病患者的护理健康教育需求,并给予有效护理干预方法,分析其临床效应。方法：选取本院治疗的80例老年冠心病患者为研究对象,随机分为对照组和观察组各40例,入院后给予健康教育知识评估,对照组采用常规护理模式,观察组针对健康知识评估给予护理干预。随访3个月,比较两组患者护理后健康知识的掌握及实际临床效果。结果：①住院期间,观察组对冠心病知识的掌握情况,服药依从性均明显优于对照组（P〈0．05）。②出院3个月后,观察组体重指数、甘油三酯、血压改善情况明显优于对照组（P〈0．05）。结论：针对性护理教育提高了患者治疗依从性,各项临床指标得到了改善,是治疗冠心病的有效补充。     

Encephalitis Presenting as Acute Schizophrenia

Three patients developed symptoms suggestive of acute schizophrenia. In each case there were no abnormal neurological findings on admission to hospital. Within a few days clinical evidence of encephalitis became apparent, and appropriate treatment was given. Only one patient made a full recovery.     

PBL健康教育模式在COPD稳定期患者中的应用

目的探讨PBL健康教育模式对慢性阻塞性肺疾病(COPD)稳定期患者疾病相关知识知晓率及治疗依从性的影响。方法将252例COPD稳定期患者随机分为观察组136例和对照组116例。对照组采用传统的健康教方法进行宣教,观察组按照PBL健康教育模式进行宣教,比较两组患者对疾病相关知识的知晓率及治疗依从性。结果与对照组比较,观察组对COPD相关知识知晓率及治疗依从性均较高,差异有统计学意义(P0.01)。结论 PBL在COPD稳定期患者的健康教育中更具有针对性,有效改善了患者对COPD相关知识的知晓率及治疗依从性,从而有利于疾病的康复。     

High mobility group box-1 levels in schizophrenia: Potential biomarker of remission phase

Background: Schizophrenia is a chronic mental disorder, characterized byacute exacerbation and remission phases. Immune system has a role in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. High mobility group box-1 (HMGB-1) is a macrophage secreted protein activating immune cells to produce cytokines. The aim of this study was to evaluate HMGB-1 levels among patients with schizophrenia both in acute exacerbation and remission phases. Methods: Consecutive schizophrenia patients in acute exacerbation and remission phases were enrolled and compared with each other and with age-sex matched healthy subjects. Patients were assessed with the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS), Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS), Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), Clinical Global Impression Scale (CGI). Results: Mean HMGB-1 levels were not significantly different in acute exacerbation phase versus remission phase schizophrenia patients (2.139±0.564 g/L vs. 2.326± 0.471 g/L, p=0.335) and both were individually higher than the control group (1.791±0.444 g/L, p=0.05 for acute exacerbation vs control, p=0.002 for remission vs control). In remission phase schizophrenic patients, HMGB-1 levels were positively correlated with Scale For The Assessment of Positive Symptoms (r=0.447, p=0.015) and BPRS (r=0.397, p=0.033) scores and HMGB-1 levels were independently associated with BPRS. Conclusions: Serum HMGB-1 levels were shown to be increased in patients with schizophrenia patients irrespective of phase, there were no differences between patients in acute exacerbation and remission phase in terms of biomarker and HMGB-1 levels were related to symptom severity according to psychiatric scales among patients in remission phase of schizophrenia.     

Palliative care: views of patients and their families.

OBJECTIVE--To investigate the current problems and needs of terminally ill cancer patients and their family members, and to discover their views of hospital, community, and support team services. DESIGN--Prospective study of patients and families by questionnaire interviews in the patients'' homes. SETTING--Inner London and north Kent (London suburbs). SUBJECTS--65 Patients, each with a member of their family or a career. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Ratings of eight current problems and ratings and comments on three services-hospital doctors and nurses, general practitioners and district nurses, and the support team staff-obtained after a minimum of two weeks'' care from palliative care support teams. RESULTS--Effect of anxiety on the patient''s nearest career. and symptom control were rated as the most severe current problems by both patients and families; a few patients and families identified other severe problems. Families'' ratings of pain control, symptom control, and effect of anxiety on the patient were significantly worse than the patients'' ratings (p less than 0.05). Support teams received the most praise, being rated by 58 (89%) patients and 59 (91%) of family members as good as excellent. General practitioners and district nurses were rated good or excellent by 46 (71%) patients and 46 (71%) family members, but six (9%) in each group rated the service as poor or very bad, and ratings in the inner London district were significantly worse than those in the outer London district. Hospital doctors and nurses were rated good or excellent by 22 (34%) patients and 35 (54%) of family members, and 14 (22%) patients and 15 (23%) family members rated this service as poor or very bad. Negative comments referred to communication (especially at diagnosis), coordination of services, the attitude of the doctor, delays in diagnosis, and difficulties in getting doctors to visit at home. Family members were more satisfied with the services than were patients. CONCLUSIONS--Palliative care needs to include both the patient and family because the needs of the family may exceed those of the patient. Support teams and some hospital and community doctors and nurses met the perceived needs of dying patients and families, but better education and organisation of services are needed.     

Cigarette smoking and cognitive function in Chinese male schizophrenia: a case-control study

Schizophrenic patients have higher smoking rates than the general population. Studies show that smoking may be a form of self-medication in an attempt to alleviate cognitive deficits in schizophrenic patients of European background. This study examined the relationships between smoking and cognitive deficits in Chinese schizophrenic patients, which have previously received little systemic study. We recruited 580 male chronic patients meeting DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia and 175 male control subjects who were matched on age and education. The subjects completed a detailed cigarette smoking questionnaire, the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND), and the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS). Patients also were rated on the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS), the Simpson and Angus Extrapyramidal Symptom Rating Scale (SAES), and the Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS). All five RBANS subscales except for the Visuospatial/Constructional index showed significantly lower cognitive performance for schizophrenics than normal controls. The schizophrenic smokers scored lower than the schizophrenic non-smokers on the RBANS total score and the Visuospatial/Constructional and Immediate Memory indices. Similarly, the control smokers scored lower than the control non-smokers on the RBANS total score and the Immediate Memory index . Also, the schizophrenic smokers consistently performed the poorest on the cognitive domains of the RBANS. Among the schizophrenic patients, smokers displayed significantly fewer negative symptoms than non-smokers. Using multivariate regression analysis the following variables were independently associated with the RBANS total score: years of education, PANSS negative symptom score, age at schizophrenia onset, and number of hospitalizations. Our results show that smoking is associated with significant cognitive impairment in both schizophrenic patients and normal controls, but the smokers with schizophrenia had a reduced level of negative symptoms, suggesting that the benefits of smoking for those with schizophrenia may be limited to certain aspects of a given clinical phenotype.     

住院精神分裂症患者生活质量调查及与认知功能和社会支持的关系分析

摘要 目的：调查住院精神分裂症患者生活质量情况,并分析生活质量与认知功能和社会支持的关系。方法：本次研究为回顾性分析,将2019年1月-2020年10月期间于我院住院的精神分裂症患者225例纳为病例组。通过宣传招募健康志愿者200例作为对照组。对比两组生活质量、社会支持评分和认知功能,住院精神分裂症患者生活质量的影响因素采用单因素和多因素Logistic回归分析。住院精神分裂症患者生活质量与认知功能和社会支持的关系采用Pearson 相关性分析。结果：病例组的健康状况调查问卷（SF-36）评分、社会支持评定量表（SSRS）评分均低于对照组（P<0.05）。威斯康星卡片分类测验（WCST）结果显示,病例组的错误应答数高于对照组,正确应答数低于对照组（P<0.05）,Stroop色词测验结果显示,病例数正确数低于对照组,错误数高于对照组（P<0.05）。Pearson相关性分析结果显示,住院精神分裂症患者SF-36评分与SSRS评分呈正相关（P<0.05）。住院精神分裂症患者生活质量与文化程度、性别、年龄、病程、药物治疗、住院时间情况有关（P<0.05）。多因素Logistic回归分析结果显示,年龄、病程、住院时间、药物治疗情况为影响住院精神分裂症患者生活质量的危险因素（P<0.05）。结论：住院精神分裂症患者的生活质量低于健康人群,影响其生活质量的因素主要包括社会支持以及患者的年龄、病程、住院时间、药物治疗情况。     

心理健康教育对肺结核患者服药依从性的影响

目的：探讨心理护理及健康宣教对肺结核患者服药依从性的影响。方法：选取2011年5月～2012年4月于本院进行治疗的70例耐药性肺结核患者为研究对象,将70例患者随机分为对照组和观察组,每组各35例。对照组以常规护理进行干预,而观察组则以强化心理护理及出院前健康宣教进行干预。然后,对两组患者干预前后的1个月及2个月的疾病知识掌握程度及Morisky服药依从性量表评估结果进行比较。结果i观察组干预后1个月及2个月的疾病知识掌握程度及Morisky服药依从性量表评估结果均优于对照组,差异显著有统计学意义（P〈0．05）。结论：心理护理及出院前健康宣教对耐药性肺结核患者服药依从性的影响较大,为治疗效果的改善发挥了积极的作用。     

针对性健康教育对老年2型糖尿病患者糖代谢及生活质量的影响

目的：观察针对性健康教育对老年2型糖尿痛患者的干预效果及对生活质量的影响,为糖尿病的临床护理提供参考。方法：将120例老年2型糖尿病患者随机分为两组,对照组实施常规健康教育,观察组根据患者的文化水平、心理状况、遵医态度、实际需求实施针对性健康教育,护理3个月后观察患者餐后2h血糖（2hPG）、空腹血糖（FPG）、糖化血红蛋白（HbAlc）变化,并采用抑郁自评量表（SDS）、焦虑自评量表（SAS）、生活质量评定表（QOL）对患者的生活质量进行评定。结果：观察组护理后2hPG、FPG、HbAlc分别为（9．3±1．4）mmol／L、（6．9±2．1）mmol／L、（5．1±1.3）％,低于对照组的（11．3±1．8）mmol／L、（8．4±2．6）mmoUL、（6．9±1．5）％（P〈0．05）;观察组完全从医率为65．00％,高于对照组的40．00％（P〈0．01）;观察组护理后总体健康评分为（92．84＋7．19）分,高于对照组的（84．62±6．91）分（P〈0．05）。结论：针对性健康教育有利于提高老年2型糖尿病患者的从医性,提高血糖控制效率,改善患者的身心功能,提高生活质量。