Patient requests and attitude towards neuroleptics

Little is known about care delivery systems, patients' requests and appreciation of care of patients attending an outpatient (depot) neuroleptic clinic. Although the concepts of expectancy and satisfaction remain methodologically debatable and are multi-dimensional, they are important variables in the process of care and its ultimate outcome, i.e. compliance. in this study, outpatients receiving oral or depot neuroleptics as maintenance therapy are compared using a Patient Request Scale and a Neuroleptic Evaluation and Attitude Scale. No differences were found between either group on sociodemographic and psychiatric history related variables. Both groups of patients have a comparable attitude towards their disease and medication use, as reflected in knowledgde of the medication they use and the reason why. The appreciation of care is comparable, but their treatment requests differ: the patients receiving oral medication are more comparable with the general population and could be described as more psychologically minded. Patient attitude, requests and appreciation of care are of relevance in the quality control systems that need to be developed in the maintenance therapy of psychotic patients.