A Review of Factors Relating to Medication Non-Adherence in Patients with Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a severe chronic mental illness affecting twenty million people worldwide. Although the incidence of schizophrenia remains low, its prevalence may remain high due to medication non-adherence. Knowing potential factors relating to non-adherence with medication among patients with schizophrenia by investigating existing literature is needed in order to understand the phenomenology of this situation. Therefore, the study aimed to explore the most common factors that affected medication non-adherence in patients with schizophrenia. A systematic review was conducted through a literature search on Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EBSCOhost, CINAHL Complete, ERIC, and Allied Health databases published from 1980 to 2021. Database searches were conducted with the terms “non-adherence to medication” “schizophrenia,” and “factors.” Eighty-six articles were found following the first-round search. Then seventy-eight articles were excluded due to irrelevant and duplicate tiles. Only eight articles were included for the final review. Per the findings, factors associated with medication non-adherence were categorized into four main themes: individual characteristics, cognitive appraisal, social influence, and health-care service. To improve medication adherence rates in patients with schizophrenia, psychiatric nurses must consider these specific factors while establishing nursing interventions.