Contributions to patient adherence: is it time to share the blame?

Poor adherence to treatment is well recognized and contributes significantly to treatment failures in medical care. Studies examining contributing factors have focused predominantly on the patient. Studies examining provider influences have primarily examined communication styles or educational practices. Di Matteo et al. show, in this issue of Health Psychology, that other characteristics of the provider may influence patient behavior. Particularly interesting is the finding that baseline adherence predicts adherence 2 years later. Although this study opens the door to an examination of provider characteristics and their influence on patient behavior, care needs to be taken to avoid too rapid an acceptance of the discrete findings. The study used self-report by interview, a measure that can be significantly biased. However, this study provides future avenues to explore using more objective measures of patient adherence.