Psychiatric medication adherence scale development study

This research aimed to develop a valid and reliable measurement tool for assessing adherence to psychiatric medication treatment. The sample of the study was 20.03.2024- Between 20.09.2024, between Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa University Hospital and Tokat Dr. Cevdet Aykan Mental Health and Diseases Hospital psychiatry clinic and 450 patients treated in outpatient clinics.. Personal Information Form and the Psychiatric Medication Adherence Scale developed by the researcher were used as data collection tools. The initial item pool of 46 items, created through comprehensive literature review, was expanded to 90 items based on expert opinions. Following a pilot study with 52 participants, two items were removed, resulting in a final form of 88 items. SPSS v27 and AMOS v22 programs were used for data analysis. Exploratory factor analysis revealed an eight-factor structure explaining 65.642% of the total variance. These factors were named as: Cognition/Attention Problems, False Beliefs, Sleep Problems, Insight, Movement/Activity Problems, Sexual Problems, Eating Problems, and Social Support Problems. Confirmatory factor analysis results showed that the eight-factor structure was compatible with the data. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the scale was found to be 0.981. The Cronbach's alpha coefficients of the subscales ranged between 0.796 and 0.967. Analyses regarding demographic characteristics revealed that single patients and those who did not attend regular check-ups had significantly higher levels of medication non-adherence. On the other hand, medication non-adherence was found to be unrelated to variables such as gender, educational status, economic status, social security, age, duration of diagnosis, number of hospitalizations, and number of medications used. In conclusion, the developed Psychiatric Medication Adherence Scale was demonstrated to be a valid and reliable measurement tool. Finally, the reliability of the scale was tested again with a retest and no question was removed from the scale