Patient Prefer Adherence. 2025 Aug 27;19:2647-2661. doi: 10.2147/PPA.S494721. eCollection 2025.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Pharmacological treatments play an important role in managing symptoms of schizophrenia but can also be associated with side effects. The aim of this study was to understand the impact of schizophrenia and its pharmacological treatment on patients’ health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and to explore patient preferences around treatment benefits and side effects.
PATIENTS AND METHODS: This study employed a mixed methods approach with two stages of recruitment of adult patients in Spain. Stage 1 included qualitative and quantitative elements (including included two validated patient-reported outcome measures: PETiT and EQ-5D-5L) administered in telephone interviews with people with schizophrenia. Stage 2 consisted of a quantitative online survey completed by people with schizophrenia attending outpatient clinics. Responses to quantitative items across both stages were combined for analysis.
RESULTS: Twenty respondents completed the mixed methods interviews (stage 1), and 25 participants completed the online survey (stage 2). Results from stages 1 and 2, showed that participants perceived treatments to have a beneficial impact on controlling their symptoms. However, cognitive side effects were reported to have a detrimental impact on respondents’ daily life and were considered a primary reason for treatment cessation in the past. Qualitative findings further showed that most participants hoped future treatments would minimise the impact of cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia.
CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that patients’ expectation around treatment efficacy and their acceptability of treatment side effects may indicate their capacity to maintain long-term treatment adherence. Trade-offs that patients may be willing to make between these components may prove useful to consider in clinical practice to improve treatment adherence and hence treatment effectiveness in people with schizophrenia.
PMID:40901561 | PMC:PMC12400108 | DOI:10.2147/PPA.S494721
