Medication Adherence, Work Performance and Self-Esteem among Psychiatric Patients Attending Psychosocial Rehabilitation Services at Bangalore, India.

CONTEXT

Work benefits mental health in innumerable ways. Vocational rehabilitation can enhance self-esteem. Medication adherence can improve work performance and thereby the individuals' self-esteem.

AIM

To test the hypothesis that there would be a significant correlation between medication adherence, work performance and self-esteem.

SETTING AND DESIGN

A quantitative, descriptive correlational research design was adopted to invite patients attending psychiatric rehabilitation services to participate in the research.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Data was collected from a convenience sample of 60 subjects using the 'Medication Adherence Rating scale', 'Griffiths work behaviour scale' and the 'Rosenberg's Self-esteem scale'.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED

Analysis was done using spss18 with descriptive statistics, Pearsons correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis.

RESULTS

There were 36 males and 24 females who participated in this study. The subjects had good mean medication adherence of 8.4 ± 1.5 with median of 9.00, high mean self-esteem of 17.65 ± 2.97 with median of 18.0 and good mean work performance of 88.62 ± 22.56 with median of 93.0. Although weak and not significant, there was a positive correlation (r = 0.22, P = 0.103) between medication adherence and work performance; positive correlation between (r = 0.25, P = 0.067) medication adherence and self-esteem; positive correlation between (r = 0.136, P = 0.299) work performance and self-esteem. Multiple regression analysis showed no significant predictors for medication adherence, work performance and self-esteem among patients with psychiatric illness.

CONCLUSIONS

Medication monitoring and strengthening of work habit can improve self-esteem thereby, strengthening hope of recovery from illness.