Pediatricians frequently refer children and their families for psychotherapeutic counseling. In order to maximize compliance with such a prescription, the physician should be aware of factors associated with noncompliance. We conducted a systematic retrospective analysis of factors associated with following a recommendation for counseling. We reviewed the records of 35 children who had been referred for counseling. One to two years after the recommendation was made, we asked their parents whether or not they had accessed these services. Compliant and noncompliant families were compared on a number of demographic, historical, and diagnostic parameters. No statistically significant association with the compliance factor was found. Only 53% of children had received the prescribed therapy. We conclude that noncompliance with a recommendation for psychotherapeutic counseling is a problem of significant proportion. Further work with a larger sample size will be needed to elucidate factors associated with noncompliance.
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Joost et al. (1989) studied this question.