Patient education and the physician-patient relationship.

Noncompliance is a major problem that patient education aims at resolving. The emphasis in patient education upon didactic strategies, educational content, and materials distracts from perhaps the most important factor in the success of patient education, that is, the quality of the physician-patient relationship. In the context of the physician-patient relationship many of the patient's psychological needs, wishes, and fears will be revealed, and these factors have bearing upon compliance and the ability to make use of patient education. When the physician develops a psychotherapeutic attitude characterized by empathic attunement to the patient and his or her underlying psychological reasons for resistance to medical advice, the likelihood of accepting patient education increases.