Opinions of French patients with schizophrenia regarding injectable medication

Figures & data

Table 1 Questions included in the survey

Patients’ perception of their illness and information received in relation to schizophrenia

Do you feel ill?

Do you know the name of the illness you have? If so, what is it? (Spontaneous answer)

Who informed you that you were ill? (Spontaneous answer)

Since you became ill, who has most regularly provided you with information about your illness? (Spontaneous answer)

When someone talked to you about your illness for the first time, did he or she give you any information or an explanation about treatment for the illness?

Since you were informed you were ill:

Have the medical staff been listening to you?

Have the medical staff answered all your questions?

Has the information you have received been clear?

Has the information you have received been sufficient?

Forms of treatment administered to the patients

Since you became ill, which of the following treatments have you used?

Injections

Tablets taken with water

Drinkable solution (drops)

Tablets that melt in the mouth

For patients who had received at least two forms of medication:

Of those treatments you have used, which do you prefer?

For patients who preferred injections:

Please give the reason for your preference (Spontaneous answer)

For patients who preferred tablets:

Please give the reason for your preference (Spontaneous answer)

Injectable treatment

Do you know why this injectable treatment was prescribed for you? (Spontaneous answer)

Did the doctor who prescribed this injectable treatment for you talk about the following?

The place where you can inject yourself

The frequency of the injections

The advantages of this injectable treatment over other treatments

Possible undesirable effects of this treatment

How do you feel today after having received an injectable treatment?

For patients who felt better than before:

What for you are the main advantages of your injectable treatment? (Spontaneous answer)

I am going to quote you various opinions. Please tell me if they correspond quite closely or quite poorly to your feelings about your treatment:

Injectable treatment is more effective against my symptoms and my illness than tablets (or a drinkable solution).

Injectable treatment has fewer undesirable effects than tablets (or a drinkable solution).

Either a nurse or a doctor gives me my injection, so I feel better supported in my illness.

Have you ever skipped an injection on purpose without having talked about it beforehand with a doctor?

Does the injectable treatment that you are now receiving allow you to envision your plans and aspirations more optimistically?

What are your current plans and aspirations? (Spontaneous answer)

Notes: The questions listed above are generally shown according to their presentation in this article, which is not necessarily indicative of the order in which they were asked in the survey. Whereas some of the questions required answers to be selected from multiple-choice options, others were open-ended, with spontaneous answers being obtained as shown above.

Table 2 Baseline characteristics of the patients surveyed (n = 206)

Characteristic	Percentage of patients
Gender
Male	65
Female	35
Age (years)
<35	29
35–49	48
≥50	23
Living arrangement
Alone	43
With family	38
With partner	10
Social institution	8
Engagement in occupational, educational, or voluntary activity	13
Engagement in leisure activity	51^a

Note:

a Of whom 16% belonged to a club or self-help group.

Table 3 Preferred treatment as described by patients who had used at least two forms (n = 196)

Description	Percentage of patients
Injections	47
Tablets taken with water	35
Drinkable solutions	7
Orally disintegrating tablets	1
Patients did not know	10

Table 4 Patients’ feelings after having received an injectable treatment (n = 206)

Description	Percentage of patients
Better than before	67
Neither better nor worse	23
Not as well as before	8
Patients did not know	2