Effect of a Telephone Intervention on Measures of Psychiatric and Nonpsychiatric Medication Adherence in Outpatients With Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders

Telephone intervention may address the need for problem-solving interventions to improve medication adherence in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs). The current randomized controlled trial examined the effect of weekly telephone intervention problem solving (TIPS) on quantitative measures of psychiatric and nonpsychiatric medication adherence over 6 months in 105 stable outpatients with SSDs. Independent samples t test revealed no significant differences in psychiatric or nonpsychiatric pill count adherence between groups at 6 months; however, 54.7% of experimental participants versus 32.7% of controls had serum antipsychotic levels within therapeutic range at 6 months (X-2 = 5.2, df = 1, p = 0.023). The current study extends the literature on adherence in patients with SSDs by describing a clinical sample of stable outpatients over 6 months and examining adherence to psychiatric and nonpsychiatric medications.