Patient Work in General Practice

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Patient Work in General Practice: applying qualitative data analysis to General Practitioner-patient consultations that discuss self-management

• IRAS ID

  257924

• Contact name

  Fiona Stevenson

• Contact email

  f.stevenson@ucl.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  University College London

• Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier

  TBA, Data protection number

• Duration of Study in the UK

  0 years, 9 months, 31 days

• Research summary

  Increasingly, patients are expected to take care of their health outside of medical settings. Self-management refers to actions taken by people to recognise, treat and manage their own health. It is widely promoted to empower patients, improve health outcomes, and reduce constraints on the overstretched health system. However, many individuals living with chronic conditions struggle to practise self-management effectively. Yet, few studies have focused on how self-management is discussed in GP-patient consultations, the difficulties patients experienced, or the support patients require in self-management.

  The purpose of this study is to examine how self-management is discussed in GP-patient encounters. It will focus initially on people with type 2 diabetes, analysing pre-collected video recordings of GP-patient primary care consultations.

  Analyses will include (but not limited to):
  1) how GPs and patients discuss self-management during consultations (e.g. tasks, actions and strategies regarding self-management, circumstances self-management was discussed, who raised the topic, actions and concerns explored, level of depth and amount of time spent on the topic)
  2) how patients perceive self-management during GP consultations (e.g. difficulties experienced, support required, and work expected of patients)
  3) how self-management interventions (digital and non-digital) were discussed during consultations, and what impact they have

  Findings of this study will add to the limited evidence base of what happens during GP-patient consultations regarding self-management, particularly the patient perspective. Findings will also be used to inform the design, evaluation and implementation of interventions designed for patients in self-management (digital or non-digital). Methodology of this study can also be used to explore how self-management is discussed in GP-patient consultations regarding other health conditions.

• REC name

  London - Surrey Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  19/LO/0364

• Date of REC Opinion

  6 Mar 2019

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion