Date of Conferral

8-6-2026

Date of Award

August 2026

Degree

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

School

Nursing

Advisor

Tracy Andrews

Abstract

This Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project was a staff education project focused on addressing the knowledge gap of medication nonadherence patterns by the psychiatric nurses in outpatient settings. Nonadherence to psychiatric medications is a major health issue that leads to disruptions of care and symptom relapse, hospitalization, and suboptimal treatment outcomes as well as high healthcare costs. Thus, improving the capacity of the psychiatric nurses to enhance medication adherence through staff education is essential. The purpose of this DNP project was to determine if a comprehensive medication adherence education program would increase psychiatric nurses’ knowledge and skills in assessing and addressing medication nonadherence within 12 weeks. The participants included psychiatric nurses working in an outpatient mental health setting. The educational intervention was based on evidence regarding the concepts of medication adherence, barriers to adherence, medication assessment tools, and medication adherence intervention strategies. Findings revealed that nurses’ knowledge of nonadherence to medications improved and their confidence identifying nonadherence barriers and facilitating interventions increased following the educational intervention. Findings from this study can be used to provide a practice guideline for psychiatric nurses to improve medication adherence and treatment outcomes among their patients. In addition, the project promotes social change, diversity, equity, and inclusion by giving all patients access to quality treatment and positive health outcomes because their unique adherence challenges are identified and addressed and the burden of complications due to nonadherence is reduced.

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