Physicians' Use of Compliance Gaining.

A qualitative analysis was conducted exploring physicians' use of compliance gaining strategies used in attempts to change patient behaviors. Analysis revealed six sets of perceptions that describe the ways physicians manage the difficult task of compliance gaining - recognition of failure, tolerance of outside credibility, labeling the "art of medicine," assigning patient responsibility, placing patients on "their journey," and acknowledging "the event." Analysis also identified three key sets of strategies that physicians use in compliance gaining: 1) message strategies (which include direct and strategic attempts to manage interactions about behavior change); 2) relational strategies (which emerge from the relationship shared by the physician and the patient); and 3) personal strategies (which include the individual physician's approaches to compliance gaining). Eight message strategies, three relational strategies, and two personal strategies are identified and described.