ISSN: 0022-1198
CODEN: JFSCA
Page Count: 5

Medication Compliance in Patients with Chronic Schizophrenia: Implications for the Community Management of Mentally Disordered Offenders
Duncan, JC
University of North Texas, TX

Rogers, R
University of North Texas, TX

(Received 12 December 1997; accepted 17 April 1998)

Abstract

The safe and effective management of mentally disordered offenders is a paramount concern in decisions for community placement. Treatment effectiveness is often vitiated by medication noncompliance. In the current study, clinical and sociodemographic correlates of treatment compliance were examined in outpatients with schizophrenia. Level of medication compliance, assessed independently by treatment staff at two outpatient settings, resulted in 40 compliant, 38 noncompliant, and 12 partially compliant patients. Key symptoms associated with medication noncompliance were anger, delusions, and hallucinations. As an initial investigation, a stepwise discriminant analysis was moderately successful at predicting medication noncompliance. The implications of these findings to mentally disordered offenders are explored.

Keywords:
medication noncompliance, treatment compliance, mentally disordered offenders, forensic assessment

Paper ID: JFS14375J
DOI: 10.1520/JFS14375J
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