Adherence is the establishment of a joint activity, in which the patient not only obeys the medical orientation, but understands, agrees and follows the prescription recommended by the doctor. It means that there must be a therapeutic alliance between doctor and patient in which not only the specific responsibilities of each party in the processis recognized, but also of all those involved directly or indirectly in treatment. The adherence varies due to several factors which are related to the disease, the treatment, the patient and the measuring method. There is no absolute consensus on the definition of adherence, but scholars agree that aderence is not universal and that some type of non-adherence is always expected, even in the case of serious diseases. There are several psychosocial factors that influence treatment adherence, including the doctor-patient relationship and resilience. Cardiovascular disease is now a major cause of hospitalization and death in Brazil. Heart failure is a syndrome with multiple possible causes, where the good treatment adherence makes the difference between life and death, as well as the quality of life of the patient. The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of resilience in adherence to treatment and what other factors that help and hinder patients adherence. Methods: Fifty patients from a heart failure clinic of University Hospital in Rio de Janeiro were investigated. Instruments: Socio-demographic questionnaire, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory, Appraisal of Self Care Agency - Revised (ASAS-R), Resilience Scale (RS-14) Quality of Life Questionnaire (SF-36) and semi-estructured interview. Th data was analyzed using SPSS and the responses of the interviews were analyzed using the quali quantitative analysis. Results: The strongest type of adherence is to the medication (t49=4,30; p<0,05). Resilience was not significantly associated with medication adherence (ρ=0,17; p>0,05), and adherence to physical activities (ρ=0,30; p>0,05), but it was statistically significant in nutritional adherence (ρ=0,39; p<0,05). In addition, the doctor-patient relationship has been shown as a great facilitator of adherence. On the other hand, it was noted that depression impairs the nutritional adherence (ρ= -0,33; p<0,05) and adherence to physical activities (ρ= -0,48; p<0,05), as well as self-care (ρ= -0,42; p<0,05). Conclusion: Due to small sample, further studies with larger numbers of subjects should be conducted to better understand the attitudes of the subjects regarding the treatment. However, both resilience as a good doctor-patient relationship help the patient to achieve a greater degree of adherence to treatment.