Effectiveness of a Psycho Educational Package (PEP) on Knowledge Regarding Antipsychotics, Medication Adherence, and Sense of Well being among Clients with Schizophrenia in Selected Hospitals of Kerala

Patients with Schizophrenia mainly lack knowledge regarding antipsychotics, medication adherence and sense of well being. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of a Psycho educational package on (PEP) on knowledge regarding antipsychotics, medication adherence and sense of wellbeing among clients with schizophrenia who visit the outpatient unit of hospital. The objectives of the study were to assess the knowledge regarding antipsychotics, medication adherence and sense of wellbeing among clients with schizophrenia before and after the administration of PEP and to find the effectiveness of PEP among clients with Schizophrenia. The research design used was a quasi experimental control group pre test multiple post test design. The study was conducted among 60 clients diagnosed with Schizophrenia who visited the outpatient unit of the hospital with mild psychotic symptoms through purposive sampling technique at government mental health centre, Thrissur. Data were collected with a structured interview schedule to assess the knowledge regarding antipsychotics, drug adherence checklist as reported by self and a care giver and sense of wellbeing scale. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Study results revealed that the mean post test knowledge regarding antipsychotics, medication adherence and sense of well being scores of the clients who had undergone PEP was significantly higher than the mean pre test scores when compared to control group at 0.05 level of significance. From the findings it has been clear that PEP was effective in improving the knowledge regarding antipsychotics, medication adherence and sense of well being among clients with Schizophrenia..