Although there is accumulating evidence on the potential influencing factors of medication
adherence, the knowledge about patients' attitudes and beliefs toward treatment is
only partly utilized in adherence-improving strategies. Several internal and external
factors determining adherence have been described regarding many chronic somatic diseases
but in recent research, insight on psychiatric patients has been exclusively lacking.
As a result, there is a scarcity of effective adherence-improving interventions. Identification
of any specific differences or similarities between the attitudes toward treatment
of psychiatric and non-psychiatric patients would help to support adherent behavior.
We recruited 189 participants from four departments of general psychiatry (GEN PSYCH,
n = 106), addictology (ADDICT, n = 42) and somatic diseases (NON PSYCH, n = 41). The
Patient's Health Belief Questionnaire on Psychiatric Treatment (PHBQPT) was performed
to assess the patients' attitude toward drug treatment, perceived health locus of
control, and psychological reactance. The most robust difference of the PHBQT scores
occurred between the GEN PSYCH and ADDICT subgroups. ADDICT patients scored significantly
higher on the internal and external health locus of control and on the Psychological
Reactance subscale as well. While GEN PSYCH subjects provided higher scores on the
Positive Aspect of Medication compared to ADDICT persons. Interestingly, the only
difference between the GEN PSYCH and NON-PSYCH groups was the more pronounced mistrust
in physicians in the case of psychiatric patients. Our data suggest that mistrust
toward medication does not differ in psychiatric and non-psychiatric samples, while
the acceptance of the doctor's competency may be stronger in the non-psychiatric sample.
The analysis of these factors provides information which could help us better understand
this important issue and to develop more efficient interventions for improving adherence.
