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Objective: To study medication adherence, meaning in life, the association of medication adherence and meaning in life among Thai individuals with schizophrenia.Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study surveyed all outpatient individuals with schizophrenia that followed up at the Psychiatric outpatient clinic, Songklanagarind Hospital. Three questionnaires were used:1) Demographic information 2) Medication adherence questionnaire and 3) The meaning in life questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were calculated using proportions, median and inter-quartile range (IQR) or mean and standard deviation (S.D.).Results: According to the study period; from December 2020 to March 2021, there were 110 respondents. Most of the respondents (94.5%) attended regular follow-ups, via doctor’ appointments. The majority of them were male (56.4%), single (76.4%), and Buddhist (82.7%). The mean age was 42.3+11.8 years. According to the medication adherence questionnaire, all participants (100%) had good medication adherence scores. Concerning meaning in life, most of the participants had high scores in all subparts of meaning in life; the presence of meaning in life and looking for something that made their lives feel purposeful and meaningful. There was no relationship between meaning in life scores and demographic characteristics (p-value>0.050). As all participants (100%) had good medication adherence scores, the association between medication adherence and meaning in life could not be established in this study.Conclusion: Most individuals with schizophrenia had good medication adherence as well as meaning in life. The search for meaning in life and meaning in taking medications may decrease negative medication attitudes and change the meaning of the illness.

Background: Schizophrenia is a chronic disease that has residual symptoms and relapse. Relapse prevention research will provide useful knowledge for the employment of an effective caring process. This study aims to explore factors associated with relapse rates in hospital where there are comparatively low relapse rates for schizophrenia. Method: Medical records of patients who had their first schizophrenia diagnosis, in the Songklanagarind hospital’s inpatient psychiatric unit, were retrospectively reviewed for the period from January 2007 to December 2019. This yielded data outlining demographic information, profiles of schizophrenia and treatment. Descriptive statistical analysis was utilized to process all data; and factors associated to relapse were investigated using bivariate and multivariate analyses. Results: Reviewed medical records identified a sample size of 156 schizophrenias. The majority were male (50.6%), Buddhist (85.9%), unmarried (80.1%), unemployed (50.6%) and living with their families (90.4%). Their mean age was 39.2 years. Relapse was defined as readmission to a psychiatric unit within 5 years after their first psychotic episode. From the 156 patients, 53.8% featured relapse whereas 46.2% were in remission. Cumulatively, the first to the fifth-year relapse rate was 22.4%, 35.3%, 44.9%, 50.0%, and 53.8% respectively. Multivariate analysis indicated that patients having stressful life events, non-adherence to medication, prescription changes and lack of insight were all factors with a statistically significant association to relapse rates.Conclusions: Stressful life events, adverse events, medical non-adherence, change prescription, and lack of insight were related to relapse. Emphasizing multimodality of treatment could be key to successful relapse prevention for schizophrenia.

Objectives: To examine the epidemiology of delirium tremens patients in the psychiatric ward at SongklanagarindHospital and to find factors associated with the disease.Material and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study that collected data from alcohol dependent patients who were admitted in the psychiatric ward at Songklanagarind Hospital between January 2011 and December 2014. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data and logistic regression analysis used to analyze factors associated with the disease.Results: The prevalence of delirium tremens in psychiatric ward was 28.0%. The study found that body temperature >37.8 °C (p-value=0.026), eosinophils >6.0% (p-value=0.046), hematocrit <40.0% (p-value<0.001), red blood cells <4.5x106/ul (p-value<0.001), MCV <83 or >97 g/dl (p-value<0.001), MCH <27 or >33 pg (p-value<0.001), platelets <150x103/ul (p-value<0.001), magnesium <16 mg/dl (p-value=0.043), zinc <0.7 mg/dl) (p-value=0.029), total bilirubin >1 mg/dl (p-value= 0.039) and direct bilirubin >0.2 mg/dl (p-value=0.036) were significant factors correlated with delirium tremens. Multiple logistic regression models found that only red blood cell count <4.5x106/ul (p-value<0.001) was a significant factor correlated with delirium tremens.Conclusions: The prevalence of delirium tremens in this study was lower than in other Asian countries. Red blood cell count <4.5x106/ul (p-value<0.001) was correlated with delirium tremens.