AWARENESS OF ILLNESS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA AND OUTPATIENT TREATMENT ADHERENCE

We present a brief measure of awareness of illness in schizophrenia an d test whether awareness is related to perceived need for and adherenc e to outpatient psychiatric treatment. A prospective design assessed t reatment adherence, awareness of the signs and symptoms of schizophren ia, symptoms, neurocognitive status, and substance abuse at baseline a nd 6-month follow-up in 89 persons with schizophrenia. Results indicat e that persons with greater awareness perceived greater need for outpa tient treatment and evidenced better adherence to outpatient treatment when adherence and awareness were measured concurrently. Awareness wa s not related to adherence at B-month follow-up. In addition, neurocog nitive impairment was associated with lower overall adherence to treat ment when reported by collaterals at baseline and 6-month follow-up. N eurocognitive impairment was, however, associated with higher self-rep orted adherence to medication, which suggests that neurocognitive stat us may bias adherence reporting in persons with schizophrenia.