A review of studies concerning treatment adherence of patients with anxiety disorders
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OBJECTIVE: This paper aimed at describing the most consistent correlates and/or predictors of nonadherence to treatment of patients with different anxiety disorders. METHOD: The authors retrieved studies indexed in Pubmed/Medline, Psycinfo, and Isi Web of Knowledge using the following search terms: attrition OR dropout OR attrition rates OR patient dropouts OR treatment adherence AND anxiety disorders. Research was limited to articles published before January 2010. RESULTS: Sixteen studies were selected that investigated the impact of sociodemographic, clinical, or cognitive variables on adherence to treatment for anxiety disorders. While no consistent pattern of sociodemographic or clinical features associated with nonadherence emerged, all studies that investigated cognitive variables in panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder found that expectations and opinions about treatment were related to adherence. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study suggest that it is essential to consider anxiety disorder patients' beliefs about illness and treatment strategies to increase their compliance with the therapeutic plan.
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Treatments' completion and effectiveness will improve with the acceptability of the intervention.
“Based on these results, it is important to take into account the benefit of developing interventions not only with effective treatment components but also with aspects that improve patients’ expectations and satisfaction with the intervention, because the treatments’ completion and effectiveness will improve with the acceptability of the intervention (19, 69, 83).”
From Exploring the relationship between the acceptability of an internet-based intervention for depression in primary care and clinical outcomes: Secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial (2019) · cites this paper as [83]
The Discussion (page unavailable) says favorable attitudes and treatment expectations matter for participation, and the Introduction (page unavailable) says attrition compromises treatment effectiveness. Together, these support a link between acceptability, completion, and effectiveness in anxiety-disorder treatment, but the review suggests interventions to improve participation; it does not establish that greater acceptability will improve both outcomes across treatments generally. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredImproving participants' expectations is relevant to promote program adherence.
“Taking into account the significant dropout rate from IBIs (73, 81–83), this result shows the relevance of working to improve the participants’ expectations as a way to promote program adherence.”
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“Based on these results, it is important to take into account the benefit of developing interventions not only with effective treatment components but also with aspects that improve patients’ expectations and satisfaction with the intervention, because the treatments’ completion and effectiveness will improve with the…”
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- Authors
- Fontenelle, L., & Santana
- Affiliations
- Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (BR)
- Corresponding author
- Fontenelle, Leonardo
- ORCID
- Fontenelle, Leonardo
- Venue
- Patient Preference and Adherence
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2011-08
- Volume
- 5
- Pages
- 427
- ISSN
- 1177-889X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3176182
- OpenAlex
- W2012079469
- Cited by
- 82
- References
- 18
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 5
- FWCI
- 2.36
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Patient Preference and Adherence (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Family Practice › Medication Adherence and Compliance
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- medication adherence, anxiety disorders, treatment discontinuation, predictors of non-adherence, cognitive factors, treatment expectations, illness beliefs, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, sociodemographic factors
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