Group Music Therapy Effects on Adherence to Psychotropics in Adults with Psychotic Disorders

Abstract

Context: The benefits of psychotropics on the treatment of patients with Schizophrenia, Psychosis NOS, Bipolar and Schizoaffective Disorder are recognized. Adherence to psychotropic regimens is far from satisfactory. Objective: To investigate the effects of group music therapy on the adherence to psychotropic regimens in patients with the above mentioned disorders. Design, setting, and patients: Prospective, randomized controlled trial conducted at four academic medical centers among 85 adults (age ranged between 15 and 65 years) with Schizophrenia (n=38), Psychosis NOS (n=19), Bipolar (n=18) and Schizoaffective Disorder (n=10) diagnosed according to DSM IV criteria. Intervention: Patients were randomly assigned to two groups. None of them had had a previous treatment using group music therapy (GMT). Group 1 (n=42) received 60-min GMT, once a week. Patients participated in the study for 8 weeks. Group 2 (n=43) was accepted as the control group. By consensus, family members (or primary caregivers), psychiatric nurses and psychiatrists, complete the therapeutic adherence assessment, Spanish version (evaluación de la adherencia terapéutica) initially, after the therapy, and at the end of the 6th month, including number of psychotropic medications use, type, frequency and an overall degree of adherence. Main Outcome: % of patients with >80% of adherence using the medication adherence assessment. Results: In group 1, there were statistically significant differences in the degree of medication adherence after the GMT program (73.8% vs. 16.2%, P<0.001). Also, 6 months later in group 1, there was still an improvement in the Medication adherence (69.0% vs. 16.3%, P<0.001). Conclusions: GMT improves overall adherence to psychotropic regimens in patients with Schizophrenia, Psychosis NOS, Bipolar and Schizoaffective Disorder.