Psychiatric patients’ awareness of their illnesses and medications

OBJECTIVE: To assess awareness of Saudi psychiatric patients of their illnesses and medications at Prince Sultan Military Medical City (PSMMC). METHODS: A cross sectional study was conducted at the outpatients clinics of PSMMC, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from January to December 2012. The study included 647 patients undergoing treatment for their psychiatric illnesses. The patients were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. RESULTS: Most of the adult patients 555 (86.6%) had enough awareness of their diagnosis (58.2%); however, it was insignificant compared with other groups. The adult group (n=301, 87.2%) had more medication knowledge than the younger group (55.8%). Gender association with diagnosis (p≥0.058) and medications (p≥0.094) was not quite significant. In education, most of the patients were illiterate, next were secondary school, elementary graduates, intermediate, and university graduated. Most of illiterate and elementary graduates were unaware of both diagnosis and medications, while higher education reflected better diagnosis and medications knowledge, with extreme significance (p<0.000). Illness duration showed a majority in awareness for those with longer periods of illness. Admission times reflected extreme significance (p<0.000) of both levels of awareness. Patient illnesses also showed extreme significance (p=0.000 and p=0.002) of both awareness levels. CONCLUSION: Although lack of awareness is common, in this study most patients were aware of their diagnosis and medications. Less than half of the patients could neither specify their illnesses nor their medications, which could be attributed to the limited information provided.