ATTITUDES OF CROATIAN PATIENTS WITH SEVERE MENTAL ILLNESS TOWARDS LONG-ACTING INJECTABLE ANTIPSYCHOTICS

Sa？etak Background: It has been shown that patients' attitudes towards long-acting injectable antipsychotics (LAIA) have the influence on the acceptance and use of this type of therapy. The aim of our study was to explore attitudes of patients because, according to our knowledge, there has been no similar research in Croatia thus far. Subjects and methods: Two questionnaires were given to the total of 100 patients, the first one to patients treated with LAIA (group 1) and the second one to patients treated with oral antipsychotics (group 2). Results: Significantly more patients treated with LAIA find that good aspects of their medication outweigh the bad (p=0.014). Almost one third of patients treated with oral antipsychotics (n=16, 32%) quit taking medication when they feel better and 6 patients (12%) very often or often forget to take medication. Larger number of patients treated with LAIA feels much better since they have been taking their medication (group 1=82%, group 2=68%). Almost all patients treated with LAIA would recommend their therapy to other patients (92%), which is not the case with patients treated with oral antipsychotics (58%). 90% of patients decided to take LAIA because of suggestion given by their psychiatrists and 10% were persuaded by their psychiatrists. When given potential advantages of LAIA, 84% of patients said they found very positive the fact that they didn't have to think about taking their medication every day, 82% were fond of LAIA's simplicity, 68% considered positive that their psychiatrists had better control over their treatment and 66% were very content with their recovery. Conclusion: The larger number of patients treated with LAIA is content with their therapy than patients treated with oral antipsychotics. Patients' attitudes have changed in a way that they don't find LAIA coercive anymore and most of them agreed to that type of therapy on a suggestion given by their psychiatrists