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José Manuel Olivares,1 Köksal Alptekin,2 Jean-Michel Azorin,3 Fernando Cañas,4 Vincent Dubois,5 Robin Emsley,6 Philip Gorwood,7 Peter M Haddad,8 Dieter Naber,9 George Papageorgiou,10 Miquel Roca,11 Pierre Thomas,12 Guadalupe Martinez,13 Andreas Schreiner141Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Meixoeiro, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Vigo, Vigo, Spain; 2Department of Psychiatry, Dokuz Eylül University School of Medicine, Izmir, Turkey; 3Department of Psychiatry, Sainte Marguerite Hospital, Marseille, France; 4Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Dr R Lafora, Madrid, Spain; 5Cliniques Universitaires St-Luc, Bruxelles, Belgium; 6Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Stellenbosch, Cape Town, South Africa; 7Sainte-Anne Hospital, Paris Descartes University and INSERM U894, Paris, France; 8Greater Manchester West Mental Health National Health Service Foundation Trust and Department of Psychiatry, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK; 9Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf, Klinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Hamburg, Germany; 10Department of Psychiatry, Evangelismos General Hospital, Athens, Greece; 11Unidad de Psiquiatría, Hospital Juan March, Institut Universitari d’Investigació en Ciències de la Salut, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Palma de Mallorca, Spain; 12Department of Psychiatry, Fontan Hospital CHRU Lille, UDSL, University North of France, Lille, France; 13Medical Affairs, Janssen, Madrid, Spain; 14Medical Affairs, Janssen, Neuss, GermanyBackground: Nonadherence is common among patients with schizophrenia, although the rates vary according to means of assessment and patient population. Failure to adhere to medication can have a major impact on the course of illness and treatment outcomes, including increasing the risk of relapse and rehospitalization. Understanding psychiatrists’ perception of the causes and consequences of nonadherence is crucial to addressing adherence problems effectively.Methods: The Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) Spanish Adherencia Terapéutica en la Esquizofrenia (ADHES) survey was conducted by questionnaire during January–March 2010 among psychiatrists treating patients with schizophrenia in 36 countries. The survey comprised 20 questions. In addition to recording the demographic details of the 4722 respondents (~12% response rate), it canvassed their preferred methods of assessing adherence, their perceptions of adherence rates, reasons for nonadherence, and strategies to improve adherence.Results: Psychiatrists estimated that 53% of their patients with schizophrenia were partially/nonadherent during the previous month. They estimated only one-third of patients who deteriorated after stopping medication were able to attribute this to nonadherence. Psychiatrists assessed adherence most often by patient interview. Lack of insight was viewed as the most important cause of medication discontinuation, followed by patients feeling better and thinking their medication unnecessary, and experiencing undesirable side effects. Considerably fewer psychiatrists viewed insufficient efficacy, cognitive impairment, or drug/alcohol abuse as the most important reasons for their patients stopping medication.Conclusion: Psychiatrists throughout EMEA recognize the impact of partial/nonadherence to medication, with patient enquiry being the most commonly used means of assessment. There remains a need for more proactive management of patients with schizophrenia, particularly in increasing patient insight of their illness in order to improve adherence and minimize the consequences of relapse. Strategies focused on raising awareness of the importance of adherence are also warranted, with the aim of improving patient outcomes in schizophrenia.Keywords: adherence, schizophrenia, psychiatrist, survey, ADHES

Objective: To evaluate the impact of a pharmacoeducation module both on hospital stay and on clinical and functional state in a French patient population with schizophrenic and schizoaffective disorders.Methods: After inclusion, 82 patients were randomly distributed in 2 groups, one group receiving the pharmacoeducation module and the other to be a control group. Data on the number of hospital stays and emergency visits, and the type of medication received, were compiled. Patients were evaluated with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, Clinical Global Impression Scale, Barnes Akathisia Scale, Simpson-Angus Scale, Quality of Life Scale, and Global Assessment of Functioning; data were gathered at baseline, then each year for 2 years.Results: Among the 72 analyzed patients, those receiving pharmacoeducation had significantly lower total hospital stays, forced hospital stays, and emergency visits, compared with the control group patients. They also had more improvement in their symptomatology, autonomy, and quality of life. They presented less akathisia and less medication intake.Conclusions: Pharmacoeducation can reduce the hospital stays of patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorders, as well as improve their clinical and functional state, likely through better compliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]