TITLE:
Medication compliance among mentally Ill patients in public clinics in Kingston and St. Andrew, Jamaica
AUTHORS:
Andrea E. Pusey-Murray, Paul A. Bourne, Stan Warren, Janet LaGrenade, Christopher A. D. Charles
KEYWORDS:
Medication Compliance; Mentally Ill; Public Clinics; Kingston; St. Andrew
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Biomedical Science and Engineering,
Vol.3 No.6,
June
25,
2010
ABSTRACT: The Bellevue and the Hagley Park mental health outpatient clinics in Jamaica serve the majority of psychiatric patients in the country, but there is a dearth of research on medication compliance, which is a very important mental health issue. Medication compliance affects intervention outcomes. Therefore, this study seeks to examine medication compliance among psychiatric patients in Jamaica. A 33-item questionnaire which included items on demographics, health conditions, medication compliance and insightfulness was administered to a sample of 370 participants with a response rate of 93%. The majority of the participants have schizophrenia, followed by depression, bipolar disorder and drug-induced psychosis. The majority of the participants (65.3%) did not comply with their prescribed medication regimen. Medication compliance was significantly related to: gender (P