Connections between the quality of consultations and patient compliance in general practice.

The aim of the study was to generate and test a theory about connections between the quality of consultations and patient compliance in general practice. The theory was empirically based on patient interviews in order to understand the patient's perceptions and behaviour, and on development of a list for mapping of consultations, which in turn allowed coherent descriptions of consultations and compliance. The theory suggests and explains that compliance is connected with the fulfillment of six relatively simple criteria for the quality of consultations. The theory was tested by comparing predictions of compliance derived from analyses of 63 consultations with patient questionnaire based measurements of compliance. The difference between proportions of patients who were complaint after consultations fulfilling and not fulfilling respectively the criteria was 44%. The 95% confidence limits of this difference were 21% and 67%.