Skip to main content

Table 2 Factors Identified by PCA Relating to Physicians’ Scoring in Agreement/Disagreement with LAI Formulation Use

From: Attitudes of European physicians towards the use of long-acting injectable antipsychotics

Questionnaire Item

Disagree (against LAI use, %)

Neither (%)

Agree (pro-LAI use, %)

Factor 1 – “Barriers” α = 0.87 31.4% of variance

Reduced degree of prescriber autonomy (e.g. restricted formulary or special application necessary to start LAI)

35.3

51.5

13.2

Higher loading dose or a booster injection required first

28.7

61.8

9.5

Problems with LAI cost and/ or reimbursement

43.4

45.6

11.0

Low test dose required first to check for tolerability

29.4

50.0

20.6

Oral supplementary treatment required over the first 2–3 weeks

37.5

47.1

15.4

Limitation to a particular injection frequency (i.e. only possible every 4 weeks and not flexible frequency)

39.7

41.2

19.1

Risk of increasing stigma faced by the patient

29.4

52.2

18.4

Therapeutic effect of the first injection is delayed

44.1

43.4

12.5

Factor 2 – “Injection-specific barriers” α = 0.72 11.5% of variance

 Lack of availability of a nurse

41.2

51.5

7.4

 Choice of only gluteal for injection site

47.8

41.2

11.0

 Necessity of reconstitution of the compound before it is injected

39.0

52.9

8.1

Factor 3 – “Balancing evidence of benefits” α = 0.60 7.5% of variance

 Evidence from clinical trials for efficacy of LAIs compared with oral antipsychotics

5.9

22.1

72.1

 Preserving the patient’s autonomy

25.0

32.4

42.6

 EFFICACY: Symptom reduction

5.2

31.6

63.2

Factor 4 – “Positive expectations” α = 0.63 6.4% of variance

 Current gastrointestinal disease with absorption problemsa

9.6

23.7

66.7

 Patient request for LAIa

0.7

9.6

89.6

 EFFICACY: Relapse reduction

2.9

7.4

89.7

Factor 5 – “Influence of colleagues” α = 0.91 4.8% of variance

 Negative attitude of peer psychiatrist colleagues in your department

14.7

69.9

15.4

 Negative attitude of other colleagues in your clinical team

13.2

71.3

15.4

Factor 6 – “Needle fear/anxiety” α = 0.77 4.5% of variance

 Anticipatory anxiety for pain

54.4

37.5

8.1

 Patient’s fear of needles

69.9

22.8

7.3

  1. aDenotes 1 missing answer. α denotes Cronbach’s alpha as a measure of internal consistency. Physicians were asked: “To what extent do the following general aspects affect your decision to initiate (or not initiate) LAI treatment?” Items within factors are the aspects considered and their amount of agreement/disagreement with that aspect. LAI, long-acting injectable