Date of Conferral

8-4-2026

Date of Award

August 2026

Degree

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

School

Nursing

Advisor

Sandra Wise

Abstract

Antidepressant medication adherence among adolescents is a significant concern in outpatient psychiatric care. Adolescents may miss doses because of stigma, forgetfulness, side effects, limited understanding of medication instructions, or inconsistent caregiver support. The purpose of this Doctor of Nursing Practice project was to improve antidepressant medication adherence and adherence-focused communication among adolescents in an outpatient psychiatric clinic through staff education on teach-back and motivational interviewing. The practice-focused question examined how teach-back combined with motivational interviewing, compared with usual care, affected medication adherence and depressive symptoms during the implementation period. Staff education included use of a previsit questionnaire, structured visit script, adherence documentation template, and patient/caregiver education handout. Baseline findings showed inconsistent adherence assessment, barrier identification, and documentation of adherence-focused education. Postimplementation findings showed improvement in antidepressant medication adherence, adherence assessment, identification of medication-related barriers, documentation of adherence-focused education, and follow-up support. Findings suggest that teach-back and motivational interviewing can strengthen adherence-focused communication and improve consistency in outpatient psychiatric follow-up care for adolescents prescribed antidepressant medication. The project supports nursing practice by promoting structured, patient-centered communication and more consistent medication adherence support in adolescent mental health care.

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