We need to talk about depot: effect of Community Treatment Order on depot antipsychotic medication compliance.

Abstract

The current study compares the compliance rates of patients on depot who were on Community Treatment Orders with those who were not on such Order with a view to objectively quantify the effect of Community Treatment Orders on depot antipsychotics medication compliance. "Day difference" measurements between the scheduled depot data and the administered date were collected for both voluntary and involuntary patients receiving depot medication at the same community clinic over a 6-month period. The results demonstrated a trend for greater compliance to depot medications by those not on a Community Treatment Order compared with those who were, but there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups. The current study highlighted that while Community Treatment Order may be a reasonable short-term tool to encourage patients' compliance at an early treatment stage, ongoing effort should be put into improving patients' attitude towards depot medications to ensure a better long-term outcome for individuals with schizophrenia.