Avoidant attachment has been found to impair attendance at appointments and treatment adherence of patients with diabetes, but the role of staff-patient relationships has not been explored. This study investigates whether attachment influences the quality of alliance between patients with diabetes and healthcare professionals. Patient avoidance was significantly associated with difficulties in therapeutic alliance. Further research is required to establish whether therapeutic alliance, underpinned by attachment, influences treatment adherence and to investigate ways of promoting collaboration.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.