The assessment of therapeutic compliance by asthmatic patients.

belongs to him; and he has seen so many prescribing fads come and go! So to assess compliance in asthma, as a general concept, does not seem so important after making sure that the patient's non-compliance is not related to another individually or socially solvable problem. We could also assess the principle of compliance in asthma. Compliance is a behaviour, the result of a complex association of attitudes and beliefs about the disease, drugs and medicine; it is closely related to the patient's personality. To improve compliance means to improve the patient's submission to the regimen when he might expect from his doctor, who acts on his behalf, a guidance on his autonomy, his freedom to choose between different possibilities, perhaps an intelligent non-compliance. The patient needs help and understanding; he owns his body and destiny and, ultimately, is the best judge of his own interests, provided that he is properly informed, and remains the final master of the treatment decision and implementation. Compliance is a narrow path leading from efficacy to effectiveness; we have to make it easy and attractive to the patient-trekker who will choose it ... may be. References