Representations of physician's role and their impact on compliance

This study deepens the analysis of how the physician's role is represented in contemporary society and how such a representation affects the patient's propensity to comply. 468 patients were asked to fill out a questionnaire aimed at detecting the representation of the medical role. The level of compliance was measured by means of a multiple 4-point Likert scale with questions on five aspects: therapy, advice on health, hygienic rules, prohibited behaviours, suggestions for a healthy life-style. A procedure combining multiple correspondence analysis and cluster analysis was applied to identify response profiles, corresponding to different representations of the physician's role. Univariate analysis (ANOVA) was performed to compare clusters on compliance levels. Four profiles were identified; the physician is represented in turn as affiliative authority, idealized friend, competent advisor or disappointing opponent. Significant differences were found in the level of compliance characterizing each representation. The findings suggest that the knowledge of the ways patients represent their relationship with the physician is a crucial area for a better understanding of the different patient compliance levels.