Screening Guardians in Pediatric Psychiatry to Improve Medication Adherence
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Non-adherence to medication among guardians of child and adolescent psychiatric patients can pose a significant risk to their well-being, potentially leading to increased mortality, morbidity, poor treatment outcomes, hospitalization, substance abuse, relapse of illness, and reduced quality of life. This quasi-experimental, one-group, pre- and post-test evidence-based quality improvement project aimed to determine whether implementing the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale-8 (MMAS) screening, followed by counseling and referring patients to social resources, could improve medication adherence. This study used convenience sampling with nine guardians of psychiatric patients aged 8 to 17 years who have been prescribed psychotropic medication at an outpatient clinic. The study was conducted over 4 months at an Eastern Jackson County, Missouri, community mental health center. A paired-samples t-test was performed on the pre- and post-intervention MMAS scores, indicating a mean score increase of 0.694 between the pre- and post-intervention. Although the mean MMAS score increase was not statistically significant (p = 0.179), the clinical and practical implications of the results are promising for medication adherence in the child and adolescent psychiatric patient population. Continued use of the MMAS, counseling, and referring patients for medication adherence counseling can improve patient outcomes, reduce hospitalizations and healthcare costs, improve quality of life, and decrease morbidity and mortality.
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Open Access (fully available)