Assess the sources of patients' knowledge of medication side effects and the effects of their knowledge on compliance with prescribed medication.

476 patients attending psychiatric services were randomly selected and asked to fill a questionnaire designed to assess parameters relevant to the objectives of the study.

Overall, 44% said they had learnt of side effects of their medication from multiple sources including doctors (52.31%), leaflets (54.2%), internet (14.29%), books (13.02%), chemist (11.34%), other patients (5.67%), friends/relatives (7.35%), self-help groups (2.94%) and other sources (4.2%). 8% said they were not aware of any side effects of the medicines they are taking presently.

13.44% of patients reported that they never find out about side effects of their medication before taking it for the first time with a high proportion of these being males (17.93%vs.10.69%, p = 0.0366). 46.2% reported that they have had concerns about taking medication because of their knowledge of side effects with females more likely to have such concerns than males (49.83% vs.40.76%, p = 0.0269). Finally, when asked if they would have taken the medicines prescribed for them now if they were told initially of all the side effects, 51.05% answered ‘more likely’, with a higher proportion of these being males (56.67% vs. 49.46%, p = 0.06)

Doctors and information leaflets are the leading sources of patients' knowledge about side effects of medication. The knowledge of side effects of medication has a potential to impact more on the compliance of female patients compared to males.