Health beliefs and knowledge of patients and doctors in clinical practice and research.

This paper calls for a renewal of interest in monitoring and improving patients' knowledge about their condition and self-care. Such knowledge is essential for patients with chronic disorders such as diabetes. Small or non-existent relationships often observed between knowledge levels and metabolic outcomes in diabetes can be seen to result from inappropriate investigation of these relationships. Knowledge about different aspects of diabetes management needs to be related to relevant outcomes and metabolic control cannot be expected to be related to every aspect of knowledge about diabetes self-care. The importance of health beliefs and perceived control in determining treatment choice and efficacy of treatment is considered. The implications of patients' and doctors' varying knowledge and beliefs for their preferences for different treatment options are examined and the need to consider such preferences when designing, developing and evaluating new treatments is emphasised.