Compliance with Pharmacotherapy in Adolescents: Effects of Patients' and Parents' Knowledge and Attitudes toward Treatment

The knowledge and attitudes of a patient toward medication treatment may be crucial factors in modifying compliance with a prescribed regimen. The knowledge and attitudes regarding psychiatric medications, both of hospitalized adolescents and their parents, were compared with patients' medication compliance following hospitalization. Thirty adolescent inpatients (ages 13–18) and their parents underwent intensive medication education programs. Their attitudes and knowledge regarding the treatments were evaluated during the hospitalization, and patient compliance was assessed 2 months after discharge. Neither the parents' knowledge nor attitudes correlated with the adolescents' compliance. Also, the patients' medication-related knowledge (accurate information) gained during hospitalization about their treatment did not correlate with their posthospital behavior, although they learned substantially about their treatments. However, the patients' attitudes toward their pharmacotherapy correlated highly with their postdischarge compliance (R = 0.58, p < 0.001). Even after receiving routine verbal information from the physician and giving informed consent for treatment, parents' attitudes toward medication treatment were quite mixed, suggesting that only a minimal level of parental comfort was achieved at start of treatment. To enhance compliance, educational efforts may better be focused more on the adolescents' attitudes instead of predominantly on their knowledge of their pharmacotherapy. Speculatively, modification of an adolescent's feelings and ideas related to pharmacotherapy may enhance their treatment adherence.