• Irene Vanelli, Inês Chendo, Carlos Gois, Jennifer Santos, and Pedro Levy.
• Serviço de Psiquiatria, Hospital Santa Maria, Lisboa, Portugal.
• Acta Medica Port. 2011 Jan 1; 24 (1): 172017-20.

UnlabelledMedication compliance is one of the foremost problems affecting neuroleptic efficacy in psychiatric patients. It is a crucial point to dispone of useful instruments that allow us a fiable assessment of patients' medication adherence in order to plan more appropriate therapeutical interventions. The aim of our study was to validade the Portuguese versión of the Medication Adherence Rating Scale (MARS), a concise instrument for assessment of medication compliance in psychosis.MethodsA translation-backtranslation of the original scale was elaborated. The sample consisted of 77 psychotic patients according to the DSM-IV criteria. Feasibility and reliability were calculated.ResultsThe results demonstrated that the MARS has a good internal consistence (Cronbach α = 0,73) and reliability (Pearson's r = 0,76; p < 0,05).DiscussionThese coefficients were similar to those found by the researchers who developed this scale. The MARS scale has proven to be easily applied and may be deemed a valid and reliable measure of compliancy for psychoactive medications.

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