PREDICTING ADHERENCE TO MEDICATIONS BY HISPANICS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA

Casefile data of 100 male and 93 female Hispanics with schizophrenia w ere analyzed to evaluate the impact on the patient's adherence to medi cation regimen of biodemographic, social support, and treatment variab les, and whether the patient's therapist was also Hispanic and spoke S panish. Results revealed that older and more motivated patients were m ore likely to adhere to their medication. As predicted those who had g reater family support and who were of higher socioeconomic level were also more likely to adhere. Those whose first therapist was of the sam e ethnicity as the patient (i.e., also Hispanic) were more likely to a dhere. No relationship was obtained between adherence and patient's le vel of acculturation, or the extensiveness of treatment: Adherence war less likely whether the therapist spoke Spanish. Implications of thes e results for mental health practitioners are discussed.