ADHERENCE TO RECOMMENDED MEDICAL REGIMENS IN CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE

Objective: Factors that appear to influence treatment adherence among adults have been the focus of considerable research in recent years. H owever, less research has focused on children's treatment adherence. T his paper reviews current knowledge about factors that appear to influ ence adherence among children and adolescents. Methodology: Factors as sociated with adherence to medical regimens reviewed here include: (i) the psychosocial characteristics of children and their parents; (ii) the nature of the treatment regimen; and (iii) the relationship betwee n health practitioners, parents and paediatric patients. Conclusions: Issues for future research include: (i) the adherence of both children and their parents to children's treatment, and the allocation of resp onsibility for treatment adherence; (ii) the wide range of behaviours involved in regimen adherence should be acknowledged; patients' adhere nce to one aspect of their regimen should not be considered indicative of their overall adherence; and (iii) longitudinal studies are requir ed to examine the causal relations between patient adherence and its a ntecedents.