BIPOLAR AFFECTIVE DISORDER AND MEDICATION TREATMENT: a study about adherence

• Grant number: 08/06488-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2009
• End date: January 31, 2010
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Nursing - Psychiatric Nursing
• Principal Investigator: Adriana Inocenti Miasso
• Grantee: Bruna Paiva Do Carmo
• Host Institution: Escola de Enfermagem de Ribeirão Preto (EERP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The Bipolar Affective Disorder (BAD) is a chronic condition that affects approximately 1.6% of the population and represents one of the major causes of incapacitation in the world. The use of medication is a necessity in the treatment of patients with BAD. However, theory and practice are demonstrating that no problem is more frequent than the difficulty the patient has in following the treatment, which leads to a lack of disease control, to an increase in avoidable hospitalizations and to a high costs in health care. So, the goals of this study are to verify the adherence of people with BAD to therapeutic medication and to identify the possible causes of adherence and non-adherence. The sample will be formed using all patients that had a consultation in a Mental Health Nucleus of a São Paulo interior city during the period July 1 to December 31, 2008, and that fulfil the inclusion criteria for this study. The data will be collected using an interview consisting of the Morinsky-Green Test and an instrument elaborated by the researcher. A quantitative approach will be used for the data analysis. The data will be organised as a spreadsheet using the Excel program and later, analysed using the program Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS, version 11.5). This study will allow an improvement of implementation of intervention strategies in the health services directed toward the rational use of medication by people with BAD as well as providing an improvement in the quality of attention given to this population.