Factors associated with the accuracy of physicians' predictions of patient adherence

'She thought the same way I that I thought:' a qualitative study of patient-provider concordance among Gulf War Veterans with Gulf War Illness

Objective: Medically unexplained symptoms (MUS), such as chronic fatigue syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, and Gulf War Illness (GWI), are difficult to treat. Concordance-shared understanding between patient and provider about illness causes, course, and treatment-is an essential component of high-quality care for people with MUS. This qualitative paper focuses on the experiences of United States military Veterans living with GWI who have endured unique healthcare challenges. Methods & Measures: Qualitative interviews were conducted with 31 Veterans with GWI to explore factors that contribute to and detract from concordance with their Veteran Affairs (VA) healthcare providers. In addition to being seen by VA primary care, over half of participants also sought care at a War Related Illness and Injury Study Center, which specializes in post-deployment health. Deductive and inductive codes were used to organize the data, and themes were identified through iterative review of coded data. Results: Major themes associated with patient-provider concordance included validation of illness experiences, perceived provider expertise in GWI/MUS, and trust in providers. Invalidation, low provider expertise, and distrust detracted from concordance. Conclusion: These findings suggest providers can foster concordance with MUS patients by legitimizing patients' experiences, communicating knowledge about MUS, and establishing trust.

Discordance between hemodialysis patients' reports and their physicians' estimates of adherence to dietary restrictions in Japan

INTRODUCTION

This study examined the discordance between hemodialysis patients' reports and their physicians' estimates of dietary restriction adherence and related factors in Japan.

METHODS

In a cross-sectional survey of 6,644 outpatients, physicians who estimated higher and lower adherence than their patients' self-reported were categorized as overestimation and underestimation in terms of discordance, respectively. Possible factors included clinical indicators, patient characteristics related to negative stereotypes, and health beliefs related to statistical discrimination.

RESULTS

The concordance rate was .069 based on the weighted kappa coefficient. The coefficients of acceptable serum potassium, prevalence of diabetes, and self-efficacy on overestimates were .663 , -.126, and -.132, respectively. The coefficients of these factors on underestimates were -.589, .338, and .145, respectively. All these coefficients were significant.

CONCLUSIONS

The discordance may be high and is related to physicians' clinical data reliance, negative stereotypes about patient characteristics, and a lack of understanding of patients' health beliefs.

Using an exploratory sequential mixed methods design to adapt an Illness Perception Questionnaire for African Americans with diabetes: the mixed data integration process

Background

Although qualitative methods have been used to develop quantitative behavioral health measurements, studies rarely report on the exact development process of these questionnaires. In this methodological paper, we highlight the procedure of a mixed data integration process in using qualitative data to create quantitative questionnaire items.

Methods

We used an exploratory sequential mixed methods study design to culturally adapt the Illness Perception Questionnaire-Revised (IPQ-R) and address the sociocultural contexts of African Americans with type 2 diabetes. Forty African Americans with type 2 diabetes taking oral diabetes medication completed the qualitative focus groups and 170 participants completed the quantitative phase (surveys). Using the ‘building approach’ to integration, qualitative themes from the focus groups were matched to survey domains based on the self-regulatory model. Qualitative themes assessing perceptions of diabetes among African Americans were used to develop new survey items for a culturally adapted IPQ-R, as well as adapt original survey items.

Results

Important themes included the effect on friend/family relationships, lifestyle changes, food experiences (consequences domain), importance of medications (treatment control), comparisons with family members (illness coherence), fear, future worries, and anger (emotional representations). A new domain, ‘sociocultural influences’ was added to the adapted questionnaire based on qualitative themes of race and racism on provider roles, personal control, and community influences. Merging and integration of the qualitative and quantitative phases, (reported via a joint display) showed evidence of congruence between the illness perceptions from the qualitative focus groups and scores on the survey items.

Conclusion

The use of mixed methods allowed for the development of a robust and patient-centered questionnaire. Future research should consider psychometric testing of the adapted IPQ-R, so that it may be used in addressing illness perceptions among African Americans.

Perceived barriers to the adoption of active surveillance in low-risk prostate cancer: a qualitative analysis of community and academic urologists

BACKGROUND

Clinical practice guidelines recommend active surveillance as the preferred treatment option for low-risk prostate cancer, but only a minority of eligible men receive active surveillance, and practice variation is substantial. The aim of this study is to describe barriers to urologists' recommendation of active surveillance in low-risk prostate cancer and explore variation of barriers by setting.

METHODS

We conducted semi-structured interviews among 22 practicing urologists, evenly distributed between academic and community practice. We coded barriers to active surveillance according to a conceptual model of determinants of treatment quality to identify potential opportunities for intervention.

RESULTS

Community and academic urologists were generally in agreement on factors influencing active surveillance. Urologists perceived patient-level factors to have the greatest influence on recommendations, particularly tumor pathology, patient age, and judgements about the patient's ability to adhere to follow-up protocols. They also noted cross-cutting clinical barriers, including concerns about the adequacy of biopsy samples, inconsistent protocols to guide active surveillance, and side effects of biopsy procedures. Urologists had differing opinions on the impact of environmental factors, such as financial disincentives and fear of litigation.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite national and international recommendations, both academic and community urologists note a variety of barriers to implementing active surveillance in low risk prostate cancer. These barriers will need to be specifically addressed in efforts to help urologists offer active surveillance more consistently.

Disparities in Integrase Inhibitor Usage in the Modern HIV Treatment Era: A Population-Based Study in a US City

Integrase inhibitor–based (INSTI) antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimens are preferred for most people with HIV (PWH). We examined factors associated with INSTI use among PWH in San Francisco who started ART in 2009–2016. PWH who experienced homelessness were less likely, and older PWH were more likely, to use an INSTI.

Adherence to treatment in paediatric patients - results of the nationwide survey in Poland

Background

Due to high prevalence, non-adherence to prescribed treatment seriously undermines the effectiveness of evidence-based therapies in paediatric patients. In order to change this negative scenario, physicians need to be aware of adherence problem, as well as of possible solutions. Unfortunately, full potential of adherence-targeting interventions is still underused in Poland. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes and behaviours toward non-adherence in Polish paediatricians.

Methods

An anonymous cross-sectional nationwide survey was conducted in the convenience sample of Polish doctors providing care to paediatric patients. The survey focused on the prevalence of non-adherence, its causes, and interventions employed. Primary studied parameter was perceived prevalence of non-adherence in paediatric patients. Reporting of this study adheres to STROBE guidelines.

Results

One thousand and thirty-three responses were eligible for analysis. Vast majority of respondents were female (85.9%), most of them worked in primary care (90.6%). The respondents represented all 16 Polish Voivodeships, with the biggest number coming from the Mazowieckie Voivodeship (n = 144, 13.9%). Survey participants believed that on average 28.9% of paediatric patients were non-adherent to medication. More than half of the respondents (n = 548, 53.0%) were convinced that their own patients were more adherent than average. Duration of the professional practice strongly correlated with a lower perceived prevalence of non-adherence. Professionals with more than 40 years of practice believed that the percentage of non-adherent patients was <=20% particularly often (OR = 3.82 (95% CI 2.11–6.93) versus those up to 10 years in practice). Out of all respondents, they were also most often convinced that their own patients were more adherent than the general population (P < 0.01). Consequently, they underestimated the need for training in this area.

Conclusions

Physicians taking care of Polish paediatric patients underestimated the prevalence of medication non-adherence and believed that this was a problem of other doctors. This optimistic bias was particularly pronounced in older doctors. These results identify important barriers toward improving patient adherence that are worth addressing in the pre- and post-graduate education of Polish physicians. They also put some light over the challenges that educational activities in this area may face.

Physician and patient prediction of adherence to antiretroviral therapy in HIV positive people in Saint-Petersburg, Russia

Adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) results in HIV viral suppression, which is one of the main 90-90-90 targets. Little is known about the accuracy of provider and patient predictions of retention in care and adherence to ART. To address this gap, we conducted a longitudinal analysis of 100 HIV positive people newly eligible for ART initiation (based on the Russian guidelines of ART prescription) in St. Petersburg, Russia. We assessed the association between predictions prior to ART initiation by each patient or their primary HIV physician and treatment outcomes of ART retention and adherence assessed by review of pharmacy and laboratory data. We observed that physicians' prediction was less accurate than ART outcomes compared to that of their patients. Providers should not rely on anticipated adherence and discuss openly the concerns about adherence with patients to identify those who need intervention to improve adherence.

Introducing the System for Observing Medical Alliances (SOMA): A Tool for Studying Concordance in Patient-Physician Relationships

We developed the System for Observing Medical Alliances (SOMA) to study relationships between medical providers and patients with medically unexplained symptoms (MUS). Based on literature in health psychology, medicine, and the psychotherapeutic alliance, the SOMA operationalizes three medical alliance dimensions: Engagement in the Consultation Process, Trust in the Provider, and Concordance of Illness Beliefs and Treatment Recommendations. Specific behavioral indicators, tallied as observed by trained judges, are used as the basis for rating each dimension. In a sample of 33 medical consultations with veterans who had MUS, interrater reliabilities ranged from .79 to .94. Notably, the other dimension ratings accounted for 40% of the variability in Concordance, with Trust in the Provider contributing unique variance. In addition to research, psychologists in integrated health settings can use the SOMA to consult and train medical providers on communication skills that enhance concordance.

HIV-Positive Patients' Perceptions of Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence in Relation to Subjective Time: Imprinting, Domino Effects, and Future Shadowing

Antiretroviral treatment adherence barriers are major concerns in HIV care. They are multiple and change over time. Considering temporality in patients' perceptions of adherence barriers could improve adherence management. We explored how temporality manifests itself in patients' perceptions of adherence barriers. We conducted 2 semi-structured focus groups on adherence barriers with 12 adults with HIV which were analyzed with grounded theory. A third focus group served to validate the results obtained. Three temporal categories were manifest in HIV-positive patients' perceptions of barriers: (1) imprinting (events with lasting impacts on patients), (2) domino effects (chain of life events), and (3) future shadowing (apprehension about long-term adherence). An overarching theme, weathering (gradual erosion of abilities to adhere), traversed these categories. These temporalities explain how similar barriers may be perceived differently by patients. They could be useful to providers for adapting their interventions and improving understanding of patients' subjective experience of adherence.

Assessing the Content Validity of a New Patient-Reported Measure of Barriers to Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence for Electronic Administration in Routine HIV Care: Proposal for a Web-Based Delphi Study

Background

Adherence to lifesaving antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV infection remains a challenge for many patients. Routine screening for barriers to ART adherence could help make HIV care more patient-centered and prevent virologic rebound or failure. Our team is currently developing a new HIV-specific patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) of these barriers for use in Canada and France along with a digital app for its electronic administration. In our previous work, we developed the PROM’s multidimensional conceptual framework and generated 100 English items, which have been translated to French.

Objective

This study aims to use a Web-based Delphi to help validate and select the content of this new HIV-specific PROM, based on the perspective of anglophone and francophone patients and providers in Canada and France. Here, we present the proposal for this Delphi.

Methods

This modified Delphi will involve a diverse panel of patients (n=32) and providers (n=52) recruited especially from the 9 sites of the PROM development study (site locations in Canada: Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver; in France: Paris, Nantes, Clermont-Ferrand, Saint-Martin, Cayenne). Overall, 2 rounds of Web-based questionnaires will be conducted. The threshold for consensus is set at 60% and will determine which items are carried forward to the second round. Per item, 3 aspects will be rated: importance as a barrier to ART adherence, relevance for HIV care, and clarity. In both rounds, space will be available for free text comments. Overall comprehensiveness will be assessed in the second round.

Results

This study has undergone a methodological review by experts in patient-oriented research. It has received approval from a research ethics board of the McGill University Health Centre. It is financially supported, in part, by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research-Quebec Support Unit (M006). As of May 21, 2019, 15 people living with HIV and 25 providers completed the first round of the Delphi (24 from Canada and 16 from France).

Conclusions

To our knowledge, this is the first Delphi to seek consensus on the most relevant and clinically actionable barriers to ART adherence, collecting opinions on an extensive list of barriers. Drawing on a relatively large and diverse panel of HIV patients and providers, it essentially engages key stakeholders in decision making about the PROM’s final content, helping to ensure its utility and adoption.

International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)

PRR1-10.2196/12836

Empirical Evaluation of Veterans' Perceived Non-Concordance with Providers Regarding Medically Unexplained Symptoms

Medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) are common among veterans and are difficult to treat. Optimal treatment entails continued care from providers, including primary care and counseling psychologists. Non-concordance between veterans' and providers' views of MUS may contribute to poor veteran satisfaction with care and possibly disengagement with care (e.g., non-adherence to treatment recommendations, including counseling and graded exercise). The current study surveyed 243 veterans with MUS post-deployment and evaluated the degree of non-concordance perceived by veterans with their primary care providers regarding their MUS and the effect of perceived non-concordance on treatment behaviors and outcomes. Many veterans in the current sample perceived non-concordance with their provider regarding their MUS (19% reporting quite a bit or complete disagreement). Perceived non-concordance (regarding MUS overall and specific causal perceptions) predicted important outcomes of interest, particularly veterans' satisfaction with their provider. Perceived concordance with primary care doctors may be required for sufficient adherence to MUS treatment recommendations, such as seeking and maintaining psychological counseling. Research should evaluate the effect of perceived concordance with the counseling psychologist on adherence to and outcomes from counseling for MUS.

Clinicians have several therapeutic relationships and patients only one: The effect on their assessments of relationships

OBJECTIVES

Little attention has been given to the common assessment problem that clinicians assess outcomes of several patients and may rate them in comparison to one another, whereas patients assess only their own outcomes without any comparison. We explored empirically whether this would lead to a greater variability of clinician ratings as compared to patient ratings.

METHODS

Data from two independent samples in which clinicians and patients, using consistent instruments, rated their therapeutic relationships. We present descriptive statistics of variability and intracluster correlation coefficients.

RESULTS

The Helping Alliance Scale was completed at baseline and follow-up by 20 clinicians and 103 patients in an observational study and by 88 clinicians and 431 patients in a trial. Patients tended to rate their relationship 5-10% more highly than their clinicians, but with 50-100% more variability. Intraclinician Helping Alliance Scale ratings were more correlated than those by patients (intracluster correlation coefficients 0.3-0.7 vs. 0.0-0.2).

CONCLUSION

Contrary to our assumption, clinicians' ratings of therapeutic relationships were in both samples less variable than those of their patients. When clinicians rate outcomes of several patients, a cluster effect of ratings may have to be considered in the design and analysis.

Using the extended self-regulatory model to characterise diabetes medication adherence: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVES

To cluster the adherence behaviours of patients with type 2 diabetes based on their beliefs in medicines and illness perceptions and examine the psychosocial, clinical and sociodemographic characteristics of patient clusters.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study.

SETTING

A face-to-face survey was administered to patients at two family medicine clinics in the Midwest, USA.

PARTICIPANTS

One hundred and seventy-four ≥20-year-old, English-speaking adult patients with type 2 diabetes who were prescribed at least one oral diabetes medicine daily were recruited using convenience sampling.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES

Beliefs in medicines and illness perceptions were assessed using the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire and the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire, respectively. Self-reported medication adherence was assessed using the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale. Psychosocial correlates of adherence, health literacy and self-efficacy were measured using the Newest Vital Sign and the Self-efficacy for Appropriate Medication Use, respectively. Two-step cluster analysis was used to classify patients.

RESULTS

Participants' mean age was 58.74 (SD=12.84). The majority were women (57.5%). Four clusters were formed (non-adherent clusters: ambivalent and sceptical; adherent clusters: indifferent and accepting). The ambivalent cluster (n=30, 17.2%) included low-adherent patients with high necessity beliefs, high concern beliefs and high illness perceptions. The sceptical cluster (n=53, 30.5%) included low adherent patients with low necessity beliefs but high concern beliefs and high illness perceptions. Both the accepting (n=40, 23.0%) and indifferent (n=51, 29.3%) clusters were composed of patients with high adherence. Significant differences between the ambivalent, sceptical, accepting and indifferent adherent clusters were based on self-efficacy, illness perception domains (treatment control and coherence) and haemoglobin A1c (p<0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with diabetes in specific non-adherent and adherent clusters still have distinct beliefs as well as psychosocial characteristics that may help providers target tailored medication adherence interventions.

Medication Simulation Affects Health Provider Students' Attitudes About Adherence and Concordance

INTRODUCTION

Assisting polypharmacy patients with complex health regimens is a part of health provider responsibilities. The concepts of adherence and concordance contrast the traditional emphasis on patient compliance. However, health provider students may not be able to empathize with polypharmacy patients. The purpose of this study was to measure the effect of a medication simulation on medical, nursing, and pharmacy students' beliefs about adherence and concordance.

METHODS

A prospective, quasi-experimental, pretest, and posttest design was used with institutional review board approval. The participants (N = 62) took four simulated medications (varied dosing schedules) for 1 week. Attitudes toward adherence and concordance were assessed before and after the intervention.

RESULTS

Subjects averaged 24.6 years (SD = 4.32), 72.6% female, and 79% white. Most were medical students (n = 33, 53%), followed by nursing (n = 21, 34%) and pharmacy students (n = 8, 13%). There were significant changes [t(61) = 3.92, P < 0.001] in beliefs about adherence from time 1 (mean = 25.13, SD = 5.77) to time 2 (mean = 22.05, SD = 6.06), and about concordance (mean = 41.85, SD = 5.58 time 1) to (mean = 44.29, SD = 6.32 time 2) [t(61) = 3.31, P < 0.05], for the entire group. Most students (84%) predicted that they would be able to take four medications correctly for 1 week. Fifty-eight students (94%) found that adherence was 'much harder' or 'a little harder' than anticipated. Most (89%) felt that the simulation will impact their patient care.

CONCLUSIONS

Participation in a medication simulation exercise affected health provider students' attitudes toward adherence and concordant behaviors. These experiences may influence future patient interactions.

Developing a patient-reported outcome measure for HIV care on perceived barriers to antiretroviral adherence: assessing the needs of HIV clinicians through qualitative analysis

PURPOSE

To identify HIV clinicians' needs for the clinical use of a new patient-reported outcome measure (PRO) on barriers to antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence.

METHODS

In 2015, five focus groups with 31 clinicians from France were transcribed, coded with Atlas.ti, and submitted to a typological analysis.

RESULTS

The analysis identified seven patient profiles, each tied to distinct barriers to adherence and to specific needs for the PRO's content, data collection and transmission. Clinicians preferred, for the patient who is: (1) 'passive,' that the PRO collect information on ART knowledge, to ensure that the prescription's instructions are being respected; (2) 'misleading,' that it be able to detect adherence to ART and socially desirable responses; (3) 'stoic,' that questions challenge the patient to recognize treatment-specific side effects; (4) 'hedonistic,' that the PRO contains content on lifestyle and risk-taking; (5) 'obsessive,' that the PRO captures quality of life and stressful life events; (6) 'overburdened,' that the PRO provides information on the person's home environment, socioeconomic status and cultural constraints. For all or most patient profiles, the clinicians wished that the PRO be completed, minimally, prior to the medical consultation and to receive alerts, under varying conditions, when problematic scores were detected. Depending on the profile, there was preference for the inclusion of open-ended questions and transmission of cross-sectional, periodic or longitudinal PRO data.

CONCLUSION

Overall, this study's findings suggest that to support the clinical management of ART adherence, our PRO must meet the needs of a wide variety of patients and must perform multiple functions.

The Common Sense of Counseling Psychology: Introducing the Common-Sense Model of Self-Regulation

The goal of therapy is typically to improve clients' self-management of their problems, not only during the course of therapy but also after therapy ends. Although it seems obvious that therapists are interested in improving client's self-management, the psychotherapy literature has little to say on the topic. This article introduces Leventhal's Common-Sense Model of Self-Regulation, a theoretical model of the self-management of health, and applies the model to the therapeutic process. The Common-Sense Model proposes that people develop illness representations of health threats and these illness representations guide self-management. The model has primarily been used to understand how people self-manage physical health problems, we propose it may also be useful to understand self-management of mental health problems. The Common-Sense Model's strengths-based perspective is a natural fit for the work of counseling psychologists. In particular, the model has important practical implications for addressing how clients understand mental health problems over the course of treatment and self-manage these problems during and after treatment.

Patient profiles as organizing HIV clinicians' ART adherence management: a qualitative analysis

The effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy (ART) depends on optimal clinical management and patient adherence. Little is known about patient characteristics that clinicians consider in the management of ART adherence. Exploring this issue, five focus groups were conducted with 31 HIV-clinicians from across France. A qualitative typological analysis suggests that clinician management of patient adherence is based on characteristics that coalesce into seven patient profiles. For the "passive" patient, described as taking ART exactly as prescribed without questioning their doctor's expertise, a directive and simple management style was preferred. The "misleading" patient is characterized as concerned with social desirability and as reporting no adherence difficulties for fear of displeasing their doctor. If clinical outcomes are suboptimal, the clinicians' strategy is to remind them of the importance of open patient-clinician communication. The "stoic" patient is described as requesting and adequately taking the most potent ART available. Here, clinicians emphasize assessment of side effects, which the patient may minimize. The "hedonistic" patient's festive lifestyle and sexual risk-taking are seen as compromising adherence; with them, clinicians stress the patient's responsibility for their own health and that of their sexual partners. The "obsessive" patient is portrayed as having an irrational fear of ART failure and an inability to distinguish illusory from genuine adherence barriers. With this patient, clinicians seek to identify the latter. The "overburdened" patient is recognized as coping with life priorities that interfere with adherence and, with them, a forgiving ART is favored. The "underprivileged" patient is presented as having limited education, income and housing. In this case, clinicians seek to improve the patient's living conditions and access to care. These results shed light on HIV clinicians' ART adherence management. The value of these profiles for HIV care and patients should be investigated.

Discordance Between Drug Adherence as Reported by Patients and Drug Importance as Assessed by Physicians

PURPOSE

Among patients on long-term medical therapy, we compared (1) patient and physician assessments of drug adherence and of drug importance and (2) drug adherence reported by patients with drug importance as assessed by their physicians.

METHODS

We recruited to the study patients receiving at least 1 long-term drug treatment from both hospital and ambulatory settings in France. We compared drug adherence reported by patients and drug importance assessed by physicians using Spearman correlation coefficients. Reasons for nonadherence were collected with open-ended questions and classified as intentional or unintentional.

RESULTS

Between April and August 2014, we recruited 128 patients taking 498 drugs. Patients and physicians showed only weak agreement in their assessments of drug adherence (r = -0.25; 95% CI, -0.37 to -0.11) and drug importance (r = 0.07; 95% CI, 0.00 to 0.13). We did not find any correlation between physician-assessed drug importance and patient-reported drug adherence (r = -0.04; 95% CI, -0.14 to 0.06). In all, 94 (18.9%) of the drugs that physicians considered important were not correctly taken by patients. Patients intentionally did not adhere to 26 (48.1%) of the drugs for which they reported reasons for nonadherence.

CONCLUSIONS

We found substantial discordance between patient and physician evaluations of drug adherence and drug importance. Nearly 20% of drugs considered important by physicians were not correctly taken by patients. These findings highlight the need for better patient-physician collaboration in drug treatment.

Effect of questions used by psychiatrists on therapeutic alliance and adherence

BACKGROUND

Psychiatrists' questions are the mechanism for achieving clinical objectives and managing the formation of a therapeutic alliance - consistently associated with patient adherence. No research has examined the nature of this relationship and the different practices used in psychiatry. Questions are typically defined in binary terms (e.g. 'open' v 'closed') that may have limited application in practice.

AIMS

To undertake a detailed examination of the types of questions psychiatrists ask patients and explore their association with the therapeutic alliance and patient adherence.

METHOD

A coding protocol was developed to classify questions from 134 out-patient consultations, predominantly by syntactic form. Bivariate correlations with measures of patient adherence and the therapeutic alliance (psychiatrist-rated) were examined and assessed using generalised estimating equations, adjusting for patient symptoms, psychiatrist identity and amount of speech.

RESULTS

Psychiatrists used only four of ten question types regularly: yes/no auxiliary questions, 'wh-' questions, declarative questions and tag questions. Only declarative questions predicted better adherence and perceptions of the therapeutic relationship. Conversely, 'wh-' questions - associated with positive symptoms - predicted poorer perceptions of the therapeutic relationship. Declarative questions were frequently used to propose an understanding of patients' experiences, in particular their emotional salience for the patient.

CONCLUSIONS

A refined defining of questioning practices is necessary to improve communication in psychiatry. The use of declarative questions may enhance alliance and adherence, or index their manifestation in talk, e.g. better mutual understanding. The function of 'so'-prefaced declaratives, also used in psychotherapy, is more nuanced than negatively connotated 'leading' questions. Hearable as displays of empathy, they attend closely to patient experience, while balancing the tasks of assessment and treatment.

Physician reported adherence to immunosuppressants in renal transplant patients: Prevalence, agreement, and correlates

OBJECTIVE

Adherence to immunosuppressants (IS) is crucial to prevent allograft rejection. Even though there is evidence that non-adherence to IS among kidney transplant recipients is common, it is rarely routinely assessed in clinical practice. Especially, little is known about how physicians estimate patients' adherence to IS medication.

METHODS

In a single center, cross-sectional study adult patients at least 1 year after kidney transplantation were asked to complete measures of adherence (BAASIS©, Transplant Effect Questionnaire) and of general psychopathology (anxiety, depression, perceived social support). Also the physicians were asked to estimate their patients' adherence. Medical data (time since transplantation, treatment for rejection, IS serum trough levels and target levels) were taken from the patients' charts.

RESULTS

Physicians rated 22 of 238 (9.2%) patients as non-adherent. Physicians' estimations of non-adherence were lower compared to the results of the self-ratings and biopsy-proven rejections. No association was found between physicians' estimates and the variability of IS through levels. Significantly more women and patients who reported that their native language was not German were rated as non-adherent by the physicians. Also, physician-rated non-adherent patients reported significantly higher depression and anxiety scores as well as less social support compared to adherent patients.

CONCLUSION

Our results suggest that physicians tend to underestimate patient non-adherence to IS medication. They appear to use observable cues such as sex, language skills, and elevated anxiety and depression scores in particular, to make inferences about an individual patient's adherence. Underestimation of medication non-adherence may impede physicians' ability to provide high quality care.

Physician recommendation and patient adherence for colorectal cancer screening

BACKGROUND

Physician recommendation is one of the strongest, most consistent predictors of colorectal cancer (CRC) screening. Little is known regarding characteristics associated with patient adherence to physician recommendations in community and academic based primary care settings.

METHODS

Data were analyzed from 975 patients, aged ≥50 years, recruited from 25 primary care practices in New Jersey. Chi-square and generalized estimate equation analyses determined independent correlates of receipt of and adherence to physician recommendation for CRC.

RESULTS

Patients reported high screening rates for CRC (59%). More than three fourths of patients reported either screening or having received a screening recommendation (82%). Men (P = .0425), nonsmokers (P = .0029), and patients who were highly educated (P = .0311) were more likely to receive a CRC screening recommendation. Patients more adhere to CRC screening recommendations were older adults (P < .0001), nonsmokers (P = .0005), those who were more highly educated (P = .0365), Hispanics (P = .0325), and those who were married (P < .0001).

CONCLUSIONS

Community and academic primary care clinicians appropriately recommended screening to high-risk patients with familial risk factors. However, they less frequently recommended screening to others (ie, women and smokers) also likely to benefit. To further increase CRC screening, clinicians must systematically recommend screening to all patients who may benefit.

The effect of clinician-patient alliance and communication on treatment adherence in mental health care: a systematic review

BACKGROUND

Nonadherence to mental health treatment incurs clinical and economic burdens. The clinician-patient alliance, negotiated through clinical interaction, presents a critical intervention point. Recent medical reviews of communication and adherence behaviour exclude studies with psychiatric samples. The following examines the impact of clinician-patient alliance and communication on adherence in mental health, identifying the specific mechanisms that mobilise patient engagement.

METHODS

In December 2010, a systematic search was conducted in Pubmed, PsychInfo, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Embase and Cinahl and yielded 6672 titles. A secondary hand search was performed in relevant journals, grey literature and reference.

RESULTS

23 studies met the inclusion criteria for the review. The methodological quality overall was moderate. 17 studies reported positive associations with adherence, only four of which employed intervention designs. 10 studies examined the association between clinician-patient alliance and adherence. Subjective ratings of clinical communication styles and messages were assessed in 12 studies. 1 study examined the association between objectively rated communication and adherence. Meta-analysis was not possible due to heterogeneity of methods. Findings were presented as a narrative synthesis.

CONCLUSIONS

Clinician-patient alliance and communication are associated with more favourable patient adherence. Further research of observer rated communication would better facilitate the application of findings in clinical practice. Establishing agreement on the tasks of treatment, utilising collaborative styles of communication and discussion of treatment specifics may be important for clinicians in promoting cooperation with regimens. These findings align with those in health communication. However, the benefits of shared decision making for adherence in mental health are less conclusive than in general medicine.

Assessment of the sunk-cost effect in clinical decision-making

Despite the current push toward the practice of evidence-based medicine and comparative effectiveness research, clinicians' decisions may be influenced not only by evidence, but also by cognitive biases. A cognitive bias describes a tendency to make systematic errors in certain circumstances based on cognitive factors rather than evidence. Though health care providers have been shown in several studies to be susceptible to a variety of types of cognitive biases, research on the role of the sunk-cost bias in clinical decision-making is extremely limited. The sunk-cost bias is the tendency to pursue a course of action, even after it has proved to be suboptimal, because resources have been invested in that course of action. This study explores whether health care providers' medical treatment recommendations are affected by prior investments in a course of treatment. Specifically, we surveyed 389 health care providers in a large urban medical center in the United States during August 2009. We asked participants to make a treatment recommendation based on one of four hypothetical clinical scenarios that varied in the source and type of prior investment described. By comparing recommendations across scenarios, we found that providers did not demonstrate a sunk-cost effect; rather, they demonstrated a significant tendency to over-compensate for the effect. In addition, we found that more than one in ten health care providers recommended continuation of an ineffective treatment.

Applying a common-sense approach to fighting obesity

The obesity epidemic is a threat to the health of millions and to the economic viability of healthcare systems, governments, businesses, and nations. A range of answers come to mind if and when we ask, "What can we, health professionals (physicians, nurses, nutritionists, behavioral psychologists), do about this epidemic?" In this paper, we describe the Common-Sense Model of Self-Regulation as a framework for organizing existent tools and creating new tools to improve control of the obesity epidemic. Further, we explain how the Common-Sense Model can augment existing behavior-change models, with particular attention to the strength of the Common-Sense Model in addressing assessment and weight maintenance beyond initial weight loss.