Improving Medication Adherence for Adults with Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders (1CE)

Number of Credits: 1

This course is for:  Clinical Psychologists, Counselors, and Nurses

Course By: Tim Grigsby, PhD

Content By: Steinkamp, J. M., Goldblatt, N., Borodovsky, J. T., LaVertu, A., Kronish, I. M., Marsch, L. A., & Schuman-Olivier, Z. (2019). Technological interventions for medication adherence in adult mental health and substance use disorders: A systematic review. JMIR Mental Health, 6(3), e12493.

Course Description: Medication adherence is a critical component for symptom management and long-term recovery from psychiatric conditions. However, mental health conditions and substance use disorders present unique challenges to medication adherence. A wide range of interventions have incorporated information technology (e.g., mobile phone apps, electronic pill dispensers, and telehealth), but their effects across psychiatric diagnoses remains unknown. A review of existing technological interventions showed that measurement and intervention components that are useful in one psychiatric disorder may be useful in other disorders. Further research is necessary to understand the specific effects of individual intervention components.

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe the unique challenges to medication adherence in patient populations with mental health and substance use disorders.
2. List four adherence-increasing interventions that are effective for patient populations with mental health and substance use disorders.
3. Identify one strength and one weakness of using technological interventions to improve medication adherence in psychiatric populations

Course Outline:

• Read and understand Technological interventions for medication adherence in adult mental health and substance use disorders: A systematic review
• Review the Course Description and Learning Objectives
• Reflect on the modalities and intervention strategies being explored to improve medication adherence in psychiatric populations
• Work through the post-test questions; keep in mind that answer selections should be derived from the respective article
• Return to the referenced article for any missed questions and/or to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of adopting technological interventions to improve medication adherence in adults with mental health and substance use disorders

Implicit biases incorporate an association that occurs outside of conscious awareness that may

resultantly lead to a negative patient evaluation derived from irrelevant characteristics; i.e.

gender and/or race. A systematic review of the literature was conducted. Thirty-five studies

identified the existence of implicit bias in healthcare professionals; all correlational studies

evidenced a significant positive relationship between implicit bias levels and lower quality of

care (FitzGerald & Hurst, 2017). Continued research in health care settings, combined with

greater method homogeneity, should be employed to examine the occurrence and prevalence

of implicit biases in healthcare settings as a strategic approach for mitigating related disparities

(FitzGerald & Hurst, 2017).

Reference

FitzGerald, C., & Hurst, S. (2017). Implicit bias in healthcare professionals: A systematic

review. BMC Med Ethics 18, 19. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-017-0179-8

Approvals: