Treatment nonadherence and attitude towards treatment in patients with substance abuse

Background: Nonadherence to treatment continues to be a frequent phenomenon in substance abusers. It is often associated with potentially severe clinical consequences, impaired quality of life and increased health-care costs. The aim of the study was to evaluate treatment nonadherence and attitude towards treatment. Patients and Methods: This study was conducted at regional hospital, Bilaspur (Himachal Pradesh) during Sep 2018 to May 2019. The patients were included if age between 18 and 65 years and using the substance for at least one year. Patients attending the outpatient clinic were approached and explained about the nature of the study. Those who agreed to participate were assessed for inclusion. Patients were asked to assess their adherence to outpatient visits and to psychiatric pharmacotherapy by the question ‘how often during the current treatment have you attended outpatient visits/used the prescribed psychiatric medication?’ Response options were given on a scale from zero to three (0 ¼ never, 1 ¼ irregularly, 2 ¼ partly irregularly, 3 ¼ regularly). In the same fashion, patients ranked their attitude to outpatient visits and medication on a scale from zero (negative) to three (highly positive). Furthermore, patients assessed their satisfaction with current psychiatric outpatient treatment (from unsatisfied to highly satisfied) and motivation for treatment (low-moderate-high). Results: Only 29% patients were regular to the visits while 4.17% patients said that they were not at all interested to visit the clinics. 18% patients were regularly using treatment while 58% patients were irregular in receiving therapy. Motivation to treatment was moderate in 68% patients. 78% of patients were neutral with the therapy. Five patients had negative attitude towards outpatient visits while 14 patients had positive attitude towards outpatient visits. One patient showed negative attitude to treatment while majority of the patients (n=69) showed neutral attitude towards treatment. Conclusion: Treatment adherence and attitude towards treatment in these patients is low and require further assessment in larger studies.