Compliance and its evaluation in patients with hypertension

Compliance has been evaluated from a wide range of scientific perspectives since 1950. The fact that there are many concepts referring to 'compliance' (such as 'adherence' and 'commitment') and that there is no agreement on a commonly accepted definition of the concept complicates evaluation. This paper aims to describe the ways in which the compliance of hypertensive patients has been defined and evaluated in earlier studies. The material was collected from the MEDLINE and CINAHL databases and analysed using content analysis. The review indicates that the concepts used in evaluating compliance of hypertensive patients vary considerably and that the most commonly used is 'compliance'. Regardless of the concept used, the methods of measurement and results of the studies indicate that compliance is conceived as observance of health-related advice given by healthcare personnel. This knowledge can be used in the evaluation of hypertensive patients' compliance in general and in developing the measurement of compliance.