BackgroundAdherence to antidepressant treatment is essential for the effective management of patients with major depressive disorder. Adherence to medication is a dynamic decision-making process, and pharmacists play an important role in improving adherence to antidepressant treatment in different settings within the healthcare system. The aim of this study was to assess whether pharmacist interventions based on shared decision making improved adherence and patient-related outcomes.MethodsThis was a randomised controlled study with a 6-month follow-up. Participants were randomly allocated to two groups: 1) intervention group (IG) (usual pharmacy services plus pharmacist interventions based on shared decision making); or 2) control group (CG) (usual pharmacy services). Recruited patients fulfilled the following inclusion criteria: aged 18 to 60 years diagnosed with a major depressive disorder, and no history of psychosis or bipolar disorders. A research assistant blinded to the group allocations collected all data.ResultsTwo hundred and thirty-nine patients met the inclusion criteria and were randomised to the IG (n = 119) or CG (n = 120). Nineteen patients dropped out of the study during the follow-up phase. After 6 months, patients in the IG had significantly more favorable medication adherence, treatment satisfaction, general overuse beliefs, and specific concern beliefs. However, the groups did not differ in severitye of depression or health-related quality of life after 6 months.ConclusionsOur findings emphasise the important role of pharmacists in providing direct patient care in regular pharmacy practice to improve adherence to medications and other patient-reported outcomes.Trial registrationISRCTN34879893, Date assigned: 30/12/2014

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ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to cross-culturally adapt the Armando Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire into Arabic and validate its use in the general population.MethodsThe translation was conducted based on the principles of the most widely used model in questionnaire translation, namely Brisling’s back-translation model. A written authorization allowing translation into Arabic was obtained from the original author. The Arabic version of the questionnaire was distributed to 480 participants to evaluate construct validity. Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 17.0 for Windows was used for the statistical analysis.ResultsThe response rate of this study was 96%; most of the respondents (52.5%) were female. Internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach’s α, which showed that this questionnaire provides a high reliability coefficient (reaching 0.9299) and a high degree of consistency and thus can be relied upon in future patient satisfaction research.

BackgroundAdherence to antidepressant treatment is an essential step in the management of patients with major depressive disorder, and several factors can contribute to antidepressant nonadherence. Evidence supports the hypothesis that patient treatment satisfaction will result in improved adherence; therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between patient treatment satisfaction and adherence to antidepressants, and the role of patient beliefs toward medication in patient treatment satisfaction.MethodsThis was an observational, nonexperimental survey of all patients attending Al Amal Psychiatric Hospital (500 beds) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Medication adherence was assessed using the eight-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8), and treatment satisfaction was assessed using the Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication (TSQM 1.4).ResultsA total of 403 patients met the inclusion criteria; 50.4% were females; participant age ranged from 18 to 60 years; and 16 % of the patients reported side effects after using antidepressants. Both males and females reported high treatment satisfaction rates: – 79.21% (standard deviation [SD] 8.52) and 86.55% (SD 14.34), respectively – with statistically significant associations found for female sex, older age, and three or more physician visits per year. Adherence to antidepressants was associated with treatment satisfaction with the antidepressants, with a direct positive correlation.ConclusionThe results of this study showed high treatment satisfaction scores among patients in Saudi Arabia with major depressive disorder, which correlated with adherence and patient beliefs about the necessity of treatment. This finding has improved the understanding of the role of patient beliefs, which can help caregivers and other stakeholders to improve satisfaction with antidepressants.

Background: Patient satisfaction is one of the main indicators for determining the quality of the services provided to patients by pharmacists.Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the patients’ satisfaction and various factors affecting satisfaction with pharmacists dispensing services atKingSaudMedicalCity inRiyadh,Saudi Arabia.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to explore patient satisfaction with the pharmacy services from August through September2013. A self-administered, 10-item questionnaire was administered randomly to 500 participants to evaluate patient satisfaction. Twenty questionnaires were excluded because they were incomplete. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17.0 for Windows was used to analyze the data.Results: The response rate of this study was 96%. Most of the respondents were female (252, 52.4%), and 69.9% of the sample visited the pharmacy 3 or more times per year. The majority of the patients reported a high level of satisfaction, which was slightly variable among the groups, particularly with respect to the education level and employment status of the patients. Patients with a high school education or less were the most satisfied with the pharmacy services with a mean score of 3.50 (df= 2.969, F= 3.659, p=<0.006). Unemployed patients were the most satisfied with the pharmacy services, with a mean score of 3.52  (df= 2.580, F= 3.138, p=<0.044).Conclusion: The patients reported a high level of satisfaction with the pharmacy services atKingSaudMedicalCity inRiyadh.