THERAPEUTIC ADHERENCE IN A POPULATION OF PATIENTS TREATED FOR SCHIZOPHRENIA AT THE HOSPITAL FOR MENTAL HEALTH AND PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS IN TANGIER

Introduction: Schizophrenia is a chronic psychosis requiring long-term, often lifelong, treatment and psychiatric follow-up. Adherence to treatment in this population is a prognostic factor for patients and a major challenge for practitioners, with multiple interfering factors and significant consequences. However, the relationship between depression and therapeutic adherence in schizophrenic patients remains underexplored. This study aims to evaluate the epidemiology of therapeutic adherence in our institution . Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive and analytical cross-sectional study conducted at the Mental Health and Psychiatric Diseases Hospital in Tanger over a two-month period (from October 1, 2022, to November 30, 2022). Data were collected using a hetero-questionnaire that included sociodemographic data, patient history, clinical characteristics, and therapeutic aspects. Therapeutic adherence, insight,, and psychotic symptoms were assessed using the MARS, Birchwood Q8, , respectively. Bivariate analysis using the Chi-square test, Students t-test, and Mann-Whitney U test, and multivariate analysis using binary logistic regression were performed. Data entry and analysis were carried out using SPSS version 21, with the significance threshold set at 0.05. Résults: The prevalence of poor therapeutic compliance in our study was 26,7% 72.2% of the patients had poor therapeutic adherence according to the MARS scale. A comparison between the non-adherent patient group and the adherent patient group (Table 2) showed that the latter were significantly more likely to be female (p=0.00) and have a good socioeconomic status (p=0.05). They were also more likely to live with their families (p=0.04) and be more aware of their condition compared to non-adherent patients (p=0.00). Regarding therapeutic characteristics, significant differences between the two groups included the type of antipsychotic medication (p=0.00), treatment supervision (p=0.00), quality of family support (p=0.03), and patients assessment of the treatment (p=0.00) Conclusion: Compliance is a complex and dynamic phenomenon whose definitions and evaluation methods are multiple and non-consensual and the factors are numerous, interacting with each other.