Compliance, adherence, concordance, empowerment, and self-management: five words to manifest a relational maladjustment in diabetes

Abstract

Background: The pathological reality of diabetes and the incidents in following the prescribed therapies have been considered and are still a serious and relevant problem in the health sector.

Objective: This review aims at highlighting the importance of clinical psychological phenomena that underlie the notion of therapies.

Methods: The review was conducted through search engines such as PubMed, Medline, Web of Science and Google Scholar. The articles related to compliance, adherence, concordance, empowerment and the self-management of diabetes were included, in order to highlight the possible similarities and differences that these terms bring with them in them management of diabetes.

Results: Starting from 252 initial publications, 101 articles were selected that highlighted the practical implications that each term has compared to the others.

Conclusion: The review can represent a bridge between the medical approach and clinical psychology, in which integration can suggest paths aiming at improving patients’ existential conditions and adaptation.

Keywords:

• compliance
• adherence
• concordance
• empowerment
• self-management
• diabetes

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this research.