ADD and ADHERENCE TO TREATMENT

The WHO defines adherence to long-term therapy as “the extent to which a person’s behavior—taking medication, following a diet, and/or executing lifestyle changes—corresponds with agreed recommendations from a health care provider.” Often, the terms adherence and compliance are used interchangeably. However, their connotations are somewhat different: adherence presumes the patient’s agreement with the recommendations, whereas compliance implies patient passivity. Both terms are problematic in describing medication-taking behavior because they exaggerate the physician’s control over the process of taking medications. The complex issues surrounding the taking of medication for chronic disease cannot easily be distilled into one word. Recognition of this complexity will help avoid assigning blame exclusively to the patient and assist in identifying effective solutions.