Drug Attitude Inventory1 (DAI-30) is a valid and reliable tool, recently and largely used in clinical trials to investigate the patients’ opinion towards therapy2. The questionnaire, covering two different constructs, attitude towards medication (AM) and subjective response (SR) has been used to get a valid measurement of attitude towards RLAI.

DAI-30 was administered to 347 subjects with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder treated for 52 weeks with RLAI, at baseline and at any protocol visit (month 1 and every 3 months). Clinical assessment by Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and Global Assessment Scale (GAF) was also performed.

The DAI-30 total score significantly improved from 3rd month after RLAI therapy, with a trend towards improvement for both the constructs (AM and SR). Delta DAI-30 (52nd week – baseline total score) significantly correlated either with Delta PANSS positive scores and Delta GAF score (Pearson r 0.28 and 0.35 respectively, p<0.01). In a regression model, Delta DAI-30 is a predictive factor for the remission (17% of the explained variance, p<0.001) according to the Andreasen et al. criteria3.

A one year treatment with RLAI shows symptom and global functioning improvements with a positive attitude for the established and accepted antipsychotic therapy influencing the remission.