title: Issues in patient adherence to health care regimens.
abstract: This paper examines an important area of personal health behavior in which the possible link between stress and health status is not primarily a biological one but a behavioral one. The review of empirical literature is organized around four topics: 1) the limited payoff from the search for stable sociodemographic and personality correlates of adherence; 2) the inadequacy of our current theoretical formulations; 3) the role of the doctor; and 4) the doctor-patient interaction, which emphasizes mutual expectations rather than a one-way transfer of information. The concluding remarks address themselves to the need for a firmer linkage with the conceptual and empirical literature on stress and coping.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010349:Patient Compliance; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012803:Sick Role; D013315:Stress, Psychological