The Effect of Group Psychoeducation Program on Medication Adherence in Patients with Bipolar Mood Disorders: a Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Introduction: Medication nonadherence is highly prevalent in patients with bipolar disorders and often results in worsening disease prognosis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of group psychoeducation on medication adherence in female patients with bipolar mood disorder type I. Methods: This randomized controlled trial was conducted on 76 patients with bipolar mood disorder admitted in female psychiatric wards of Razi teaching hospital, Tabriz, Iran. The participants were selected by convenience sampling method and were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. Patients in experimental group received 10 continuous 90 minutes sessions of psychoeducation, two times a week. Medication adherence was measured using the medicine check list and medication adherence rating scale (MARS) before and after intervention. Data analysis was performed with SPSS ver.13. Results: There was no significant difference between two groups regarding medication adherence before the intervention. After the study intervention, the mean scores of medication adherence check list and medication adherence rating scale in the experimental group were significantly higher than the control group. Conclusion: Since group psychoeducation was effective in improving patients' medication adherence, it could be recommended for psychiatric nurses to apply this intervention in the clinical setting.

Keywords: Bipolar disorder, Group psychotherapy, Medication adherence, Patient education