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Helping AYA-generation Individuals with Schizophrenia Continue Taking Their
Medication with Their Mothers’ Support

A. Kuramoto, N. Hirochi, and K. Watanabe 1
2
1
School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa University, Japan, and Former Division of Nursing
1 2
Science, Graduate School of Medicine, Kagawa University, Japan

Background: The adolescent and young adult (AYA) generation is the most likely generation to
experience the onset of schizophrenia. Although a continuous regimen of antipsychotic medication
is important for any individual’s schizophrenia, many AYA-generation individuals do not adhere to a
continuous medication regimen.

Objective: To clarify the process of helping AYA individuals with schizophrenia actively continue taking
their medication with their mothers’ support, and to explore how to best provide medication support
to these individuals and their families.

Methods: The 14 study participants were seven pairs of children and their mothers. The children had
been diagnosed with schizophrenia between the ages of 15 and 29 within the past 10 years and had
been self-administering their schizophrenia medication for ≥3 months. Each mother lived
together with and looked after her child. Semi-structured interviews were conducted individually with
the children and their mothers (Dec. 2019-Aug. 2021). The interviews’ information was analyzed using
the modified grounded theory approach.

Results: The interviews revealed six patterns among the children: taking medication for the time being,
distancing oneself from medication, beginning to understand the medication’s importance, seeking ways
to take medication, vigilant medication adjustment, and taking medication to maintain a societal role. The
interviews demonstrated that with the support of their mothers, the children confronted their issues with
taking medication and experienced three phases that helped them appreciate their antipsychotic
medication’s value: (i) a passive attitude toward their medication, (ii) contemplation of taking their
medication autonomously, and eventually (iii) intentional medication compliance. Mothers whose children
were able to self-manage their medications gradually began to leave this responsibility to their children
while observing how their children dealt with their medications.

Conclusion: The change in the children’s attitudes toward medication was facilitated by their
mother’s continuous and intentional involvement. These results suggest the need for medication
education based on the child-parent relationship.

Keywords: AYA generation, child-parent, medication, mother, schizophrenia, support
Poster Presentation Abstracts

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Correspondence: Aya Kuramoto, School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa University, Japan
E-mail: kuramoto.aya@kagawa-u.ac.jp

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