Side Effects of Medications and Adherence to Medication in Patients Using Antipsychotics

Aim: the aim of this study was to examine the medication side-effects, medication adherence and their relationship in patients who take antipsychotic medication at an outpatient clinic. method: the descriptive and correlational study was carried out with a total of 117 outpatients who met the research criteria and willing to participate in research in the psychiatry clinic of istanbul faculty of medicine. data were collected with a sociodemografic form, the liverpool university neuroleptic side effect rating scale-lunsers, morisky’s questions-self report measure of adherence. data were analyzed by kruskal wallis test and mann whitney-u test, cronbach alpha reliability coefficient and spearmans’ rho corelation analysis.results: it was determined that patients experienced at least one medication side effect and they frequently experienced tiredness and difficulty in concentrating and remembering thing . medication adherence was determined to be high in 47.9%, medium in 43.6% of the patients. the patients with low adherence experienced more psychologic side-effects compared to the patients with high adherence.conclusion: in conclusion, it was determined that the patients experienced medical side effects frequently, the rate of medical adherence in patients was high and the psychologic side-effects affected the adherence.