Systematic review of patient and nurse attitudes to depot antipsychotic medication

Abstract

Background: Depot antipsychotic medication is used widely in the treatment and prophylaxis of severe mental illness.

Aims: To review the literature on patient and nurse satisfaction with, and attitudes towards, depots.

Method: A systematic search of Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL and The Cochrane Library was undertaken, along with citation searches. Studies were selected if satisfaction/attitude data were described in the title or abstract and original data were included. Study quality was rated.

Results: The search produced 1374 articles; 22 articles met the inclusion criteria, 18 of which were cross-sectional surveys. Of the 12 studies with relevant data, 10 conveyed a positive opinion of depot medication. Five out of six studies comparing depot with oral medication showed patient preference for depot.

Conclusions: High-quality data examining patient and nurse attitudes regarding depot antipsychotics are sparse. What data there are show a positive attitude to depots from patients. Future randomised controlled trials should include satisfaction as an outcome.