OBJECTIVES: To measure dual diagnosis patients’ attitudes/beliefs towards psychotropic medication and analyze the effect on patient adherence levels and substance use relapse rates.

METHODS: The pilot study utilized a cross-sectional interview methodology. Inclusion criteria included male patients at least 18 years of age who were newly admitted at a residential rehabilitation program with a self-reported diagnosis of substance abuse disorder, and either major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, or schizophrenia. The Drug Attitude Inventory (DAI-10) was utilized to measure patient self-reported attitudes and beliefs. Patient’s total DAI-10 score along with each individual item were stratified according to total Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8) score, self-reported adherence on a scale of 1 to 10, and self-reported relapse rate. Pearson correlation coefficient was utilized to analyze the relationship between DAI-10 scores with adherence and relapse. SPSS Statistics (IBM Corp; Armonk, NY) was utilized for all analyses, with a two-tailed level of significance at 0.05.

RESULTS: The final study sample consisted of 38 patients. The mean DAI-10 score was 5.4±3.0, which reflects an overall positive attitude. While there were no significant differences in terms of total DAI-10 scores, there were significance differences at the DAI-10 individual item level in regard to MMAS-8 total score and self-reported adherence. There were no significance differences in relapse rates for any item in the DAI-10. Patients’ DAI-10 total scores were significantly correlated with MMAS-8 total score (Pearson’s r=0.505, p=0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: Patients’ with dual diagnosis attitudes and beliefs towards their prescribed psychotropic medication play a significant role in adherence rates but no relationship between attitudes/beliefs towards medication and substance abuse relapse was found. A better understanding of this relationship can help interventions target patients more effectively and improve health outcomes.