Pharmacotherapy treatment adherence in patients with bipolar I disorder: Can motivational interviewing strategies make a difference?

This study investigated the efficacy of psychosocial treatment intervention based on motivational interviewing (MI) strategies targeted at the enhancement of pharmacotherapy treatment adherence in bipolar I disorder patients. Eligible participants were bipolar I disorder patients who were identified by their treating psychiatrists as medication nonadherent, and were recruited from STEP-BD patient review meetings, individual meetings and correspondence with psychiatrists, and presentations of the study design at treatment provider Clinic meetings. Pharmacotherapy treatment adherence was measured primarily with the use of the eDEM (electronic drug exposure monitors) device, which recorded the time and date of each presumed medication taking event. Patient were also instructed to obtain laboratory blood draws as a measure of adherence; but, few blood draws were obtained across the study patients. Originally, the study data were to be analyzed via repeated measures ANOVA's looking at the patients' changes in medication treatment adherence and URICA readiness to change scores, pre-and post-intervention study phases. However, recruitment of participants for the study proved extremely difficult. In addition, the majority of the enrolled participants did not qualify for the treatment intervention during the course of their 17-week study participation-which excluded them from requirements to complete assessment data, per the IRB-approved study protocol. Instead of analyzing the data using inferential statistics, findings for each of the six enrolled patients have been presented in detailed case reports using descriptive statistics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)