Targeted education may reduce steroid phobia

Steroid phobia can be reduced with targeted education, but adherence to medication protocols was not significantly affected, according to a study poster presented at the American Academy of Dermatology virtual meeting.

The prospective, double-blinded, randomized, controlled trial enrolled 270 individuals older than age 21 years from dermatology outpatient clinics who were expected to be on topical steroids for 3 months. Subjects in the treatment group received intervention in the form of a targeted education video and patient information leaflet, while the control group did not receive this information.

Each subject was sent follow-up surveys via email at month 1 and month 3.

In the intervention arm, mean TOPICOP scores, measuring steroid phobia, decreased from 41.9 at baseline to 37.1 at 1 month and 33.8 at 3 months.

Dermatology Life Quality Index score was significantly reduced in the intervention arm at 3 months, according to the poster. However, ECOB, the medication adherence score, did not show a significant difference between the two study arms.

“Factors such as cost, inconvenience of treatment, disease characteristics and symptom burden potentially play a role in treatment adherence and its consequences,” the authors wrote. “Further studies are required to optimize and assess the effect of interventions addressing steroid phobia in improving outcomes such as treatment adherence and quality of life.”