Patient-Physician Communication as a Determinant of Medication Misuse in Older, Minority Women

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Abstract
This paper focuses on factors in the doctor-patient relationship that affect misuse of prescription drugs and other medically recommended regimens. The review first examines the patient compliance literature as regards the general population and then narrows the focus to the situations of older, minority females. In both sections, the reviews are organized around four aspects of the clinician-patient encounter: teaching efforts, sharing of expectations, activity vs. passivity of the two participants, and emotional tone. In general, there is limited research available on either the general or the older, minority, female patient populations in this area. To the extent that there are data available, both patient groups appear similarly affected by the factors identified. In the latter population (older, minority, female patients) there appear to be several ways in which risk of misuse is heightened.