Attitude towards and experience with clozapine of patients and their caregivers after three months of starting of clozapine.

AIM

To evaluate the patients' perceptions of clozapine and that of their family caregivers about the positive and negative effects of clozapine.

METHODOLOGY

52 patients and their family caregivers were assessed for their perception of the positive and negative effects of clozapine by using a self-designed questionnaire.

RESULTS

About half (53.8%) of the patients were not distressed of frequent blood testing. At least two-thirds of the patients acknowledged a reduction in psychopathology, achieving clinical stability, improvement in the behavior of others towards them, improvement in their behavior towards others, improvement in regularity in medication intake, agreed that their clinical state will worsen if clozapine is stopped, and reported overall satisfaction/happiness with the intake of clozapine. In general, caregivers also reported similar perceptions. In terms of caregiver outcomes, about two-third to three-fourth of the caregivers reported a reduction in caregiving needs, personal caregiver distress and tension, caregiver burden and time spent in caregiving. About half of the caregivers reported a reduction in the cost of treatment, since the starting of clozapine.

CONCLUSIONS

To conclude, the present study suggests that a significant proportion of patients receiving clozapine for three months and their relatives report positive perception and experience with the molecule.