Frequently Asked Questions

No significant association was found between tablet shape, size, or color preferences and medication adherence in this 232-patient psychiatric outpatient study. All preference/dislike analyses were nonsignificant (all P > .05), with c72 values ranging from 1.90 to 4.64 and small effect sizes (Crame9rs V = 0.090.14). The authors concluded that tablet esthetics may influence acceptability, but they did not predict sustained adherence in this sample.

Patients most often preferred oval/oblong tablets (43.5%), small tablets (41.4%), and white tablets (41.8%). These were the most favored shape, size, and color categories measured on the study questionnaire.

The most commonly disliked tablet features were large size (53.4%), flat-circular shape (40.5%), and red color (33.6%). The authors noted that these attributes may affect acceptability even though they were not significantly linked to adherence.

Overall self-reported adherence was 74.1% among the 232 psychiatric outpatients, based on a Medication Adherence Rating Scale (MARS) score of 610. The 95% confidence interval for adherence was 68.1%79.3%.

Yes. The lowest adherence rate was observed in psychosis at 30.8% (95% CI, 12.7%57.6%), while the highest was in generalized anxiety disorder at 85.0% (95% CI, 64.0%94.8%). However, the study's statistical analysis found that clinical variables, including diagnosis, did not significantly affect adherence overall (P = .081 to P = .760).

Medication adherence was measured with the 10-item Medication Adherence Rating Scale (MARS). The study defined patients as adherent if their MARS score was 6 or higher.

This was a cross-sectional observational study of 232 adult psychiatric outpatients who had been taking oral medications for at least 1 month. Because the design was cross-sectional, it can identify associations at one point in time but cannot establish causality. The sample was recruited consecutively over 6 months from a single psychiatric outpatient department.

The main limitations were that adherence was measured by self-reported MARS rather than objective methods, the study used a cross-sectional design, and the sample came from a single urban center. The authors noted that self-report may overestimate adherence because of recall and social desirability bias, and they cited only moderate concordance between MARS and objective measures (38 = 0.40.6). They also did not adjust for confounders with multivariable models, which limits interpretation.

This study does not support changing tablet esthetics alone as a reliable way to improve adherence in psychiatric outpatients. Although patients showed clear preferences for small, oval/oblong, white tablets and dislikes for large, flat-circular, and red tablets, none of these attributes was significantly associated with adherence. The authors instead emphasized holistic strategies such as psychoeducation and cognitive-behavioral approaches.