Objective: The study was designed to measure the level of knowledge of the diagnosis of illness and its treatment among patients with schizophrenia in China, and to examine the association between the capacity to provide informed consent and participation in treatment.
Participants and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at three clinical inpatient sites in Shanghai, China, during 2015. Patients’ knowledge of the illness, as well as the knowledge of the patients’ families and psychiatrists, was determined. Logistic regression was used to determine the factors associated with patients’ knowledge of schizophrenia.
Results: Out of 109 enrolled schizophrenic inpatients (mean age 42.46±1.29 years), 60.6% were aware of their diagnosis and 67.0% knew details of their treatment plan. The group with unimpaired capacity for giving informed consent had a greater knowledge of their diagnosis (χ ²=5.002, p =0.038) and of their treatment plan (χ ²=11.196, p <0.01) in comparison with patients who were regarded to be impaired. Using logistic regression analysis, it was found that patients’ capacity to give informed consent to treatment was associated with the level of knowledge surrounding the diagnosis (odds ratio =3.230, p <0.05) and the level of knowledge of treatment (odds ratio =4.962, p <0.01).
Conclusion: The level of knowledge reported by inpatients with schizophrenia was low with respect to the diagnosis of schizophrenia and of the treatment associated with this illness. An association between patients’ capacities for giving informed consent and knowledge of their illness was confirmed in the present study. The results suggest that, in clinical practice, the informed consent process should be strengthened to protect the interests of patients with schizophrenia.
Keywords: ethics, informed consent, schizophrenia, illness knowledge