. Hossein Tahghighi; . Hamed Mortazavi; . Ali Akhondpour Manteghi; . Mohammad Reza Armat
Volume 13, Issue 2 , February 2023, , Pages 1-9
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The number of older adults with bipolar disorder is increasing and medicationnon‑adherence is a major problem that negatively impacts the course of bipolar disorder. This ...
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BACKGROUND: The number of older adults with bipolar disorder is increasing and medicationnon‑adherence is a major problem that negatively impacts the course of bipolar disorder. This studyaimed to determine the effect of a comprehensive individual motivational‑educational program onmedication adherence in elderly patients with bipolar disorder.MATERIALS AND METHOD: An experimental study with pretest‑posttest repeated measures with acontrol group was conducted on two groups of 62 elderly people with bipolar disorders hospitalizedat Ibn Sina Hospital in Mashhad, Northeast Iran, 2019. For the elderly in the intervention group, acomprehensive motivational‑educational program was administered for one month (four 30–45 minutesessions), and for the elderly in the control group, routine clinical care was performed. Medicationadherence in both elderly groups was measured before, immediately after, one and two months afterthe intervention. Data were analyzed by SPSS statistical software (version 16) using descriptivestatistics and independent t‑test, Mann‑Whitney, paired t‑test, repeated measures analysis ofvariance (ANOVA), and Chi‑square tests.RESULTS: The mean age of elderlies in the intervention and control groups were 69.03 ± 5.75 and68.50 ± 6.73 years, respectively. Regardless of the groups to which the patients were assigned, asignificant difference in medication adherence scores was observed during the study period (timeeffect; P < 0.001). Also, the medication adherence score was significantly lower in the interventiongroup, compared to the control group (group effect; P < 0.001). Also, there was a group time interactionbetween the medication adherence score and the time of evaluation (P < 0.001).CONCLUSION: The results of the present study confirm the positive effect of a comprehensiveeducational‑motivational program on improving medication adherence in elderly patients with bipolardisorder.