Background: Patients can provide appropriate and legally valid consent to treatment with antipsychotics only if they received adequate information on the risk of tardive dyskinesia (TD) and have the capacity to give informed consent.
Methods: Eighty-seven patients in a psychiatric practice undergoing treatment with antipsychotics were interviewed for their level of information regarding TD and were subsequently provided with additional information on TD as needed. Three months after provision of this information, the interview was repeated.
Results: Though 82% of the patients had read the patient information leaflet and 44% had already received previous information, only 17% were found to be informed. The proportion of informed patients increased to 72% at the second interview. Among patients remaining uninformed despite previous information, a statistically significant higher proportion of elderly patients and patients with marked psychopathological impairments was found.
Conclusions: Schizophrenic patients' knowledge on TD is low. With appropriate oral information being provided patients' knowledge can be considerably improved in the short run.