Purpose This study evaluated the impact of nurse‐led medication adherence therapy (MAT) on medication adherence behavior and symptom severity of inpatients with bipolar disorder. Method Two arms, single‐blind, randomized controlled trial on individuals with bipolar disorder was conducted at inpatient department of mental healthcare setting, India. Eighty‐five participants were randomly allocated to MAT group and Treatment as usual group. Standard measures were used to assess medication adherence and symptom severity of both groups at baseline and follow‐up time points. Conclusion MAT improved medication adherence behavior resulting in marked decrease in symptom severity of participants with bipolar disorders. Implications for Nursing Practice Psychiatric nurses can effectively implement MAT for bipolar inpatients, which improves better clinical outcomes, prevent relapse, and readmissions.

Background: India is home to an estimated 57 million people (18% of the global estimate) affected by depression. Major depressive disorder (MDD) is considered to be a leading cause of disability globally. Everyone experiences depression differently. It is evident that MDD significantly hampers the adaptive functioning of the patients. Aim: We intended to assess the symptom severity and functional ability among individuals with MDD attending outpatient psychiatric units and also to find out the relationship between symptom severity and functional ability. Methods: A total of 142 individuals with MDD were screened, consecutive sampling technique was used to enroll 80 eligible (July 2021 to December 2021) individuals in the study. The data were collected using Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D) and Work and Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS). The data were analysed using SPSS version 25 (IBM Corp, Armonk NY). Result: The response rate of the study was 100%. We recorded that 41.3% of participants had mild symptoms and about 36.3% had severe to very-severe symptoms of depression (overall mean & SD=16.28±5.89). With respect to functional ability, it was recorded that 22.5% of participants experienced significant functional impairment and about 66.3% experienced a moderately-severe disturbance in their functioning (overall mean & SD=22.90±6.93). There is a positive linear correlation between symptom severity and functional ability scores (r=0.209). Linear regression showed no predictors significantly predicting the symptom severity and functional ability among participants with MDD. Conclusion: The current study findings are suggestive that the participants with MDD experience depressive symptoms with varied intensity. Since symptom severity is associated with the functioning, resulting in significant impairment in performing daily activities was evident. There is a need for follow-up studies with a more rigorous methodology to have more insight into the trajectory of outcome variables. Key words: Major Depressive Disorder, Symptom Severity, Functional Ability, Cross-sectional Analytical Study.