Issues in patient adherence to health care regimens

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.