Psychological reactance as a factor in patient noncompliance with medication taking: A field experiment

Patient noncompliance with medical recommendations is widespread. The theor y of psychological reactance sheds fresh light on the subject. Reactance th eory posits that when an individual discerns a threat to a valued freedom, a motivational state compels the individual to reassert that freedom. The p resent study sought evidence of reactance in the compliance behaviors of 10 1 patients. Participants were exposed to either an authoritative-oriented o r a partnership-oriented advice-giving tone, coupled with either an opportu nity for the participant to select certain features of the regimen or no op portunity to do so. While neither manipulation produced the anticipated cau sal results, both quantitative and qualitative correlational data clearly r evealed a connection between reactance and noncompliance The investigators report findings and make suggestions for further research.