Author/Authors :
Bahredar، Mohammad Jafar نويسنده Department of Clinical Psychology, Tehran Institue of Psychiatry, Iran University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran; , , Farid، Ali Asghar Asgharnejad نويسنده Mental Health Research Center, Department of Clinical Psychology, Tehran Institue of Psychiatry ,Iran University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran; , , Ghanizadeh، Ahmad نويسنده , , Birashk، Behrooz نويسنده Mental Health Research Center ,
Abstract :
Background: Psycho-education is now considered as part of the integrated treatment for bipolar
disorder. This study aimed to determine the efficacy of group psycho-education on medication
adherence and global functioning of patients with bipolar disorder type I.
Methods: 45 patients with bipolar disorder type I were allocated one of the three groups of psycho-education
plus pharmacotherapy, pharmacotherapy and placebo plus pharmacotherapy. A psycho-educational
program was conducted for the psycho-educational group during 9 weekly sessions. Medication adherence
and global functioning of all the three groups were evaluated before the intervention, three months and six
months after the intervention using Medication Adherence Rating Scale (MARS) and Global Assessment
of Functioning (GAF). ANOVA was performed to examine the data.
Results: In the first and second assessments, the mean score of medication adherence and gobal
functioning for patients in the psycho-educational group was significantly higher than that in the
control and placebo groups (P=0.001). Medication adherence score of the psycho-educational group
was increased from 6.27(0.88) to 7.92(1.38). while the mean score of the psycho-educational group
increased from 56.6 (3.58) to 64.17 (2.12):, the global functioning reduced from 56.27(3.17) to 54.17(5.08)
in the control group and from 56.67 (3.58) to 56 (4.36) in the placebo group.
Conclusion: Psycho-educational program plus pharmacotherapy was effective in improvement
medication adherence and global functioning of bipolar patients.
