Title : Patient involvement in chronic disease management: Research highlights
Abstract:
Numerous potential benefits come from developing new approaches for working with patients and developing partnerships with them to better manage their own healthcare and service delivery. These benefits include increased patient satisfaction and trust, improved patients’ quality of life, and better understanding of personal responsibilities in chronic disease self-management. Patients manage their chronic illnesses every day and thus develop expertise in their own care. Health professionals need to welcome, value and foster this expertise and patients’ Individual experience with their condition. By involving patients in chronic disease self-management, health professionals can deliver care more effectively and efficiently.
In this presentation, I discuss findings from two research studies recently conducted in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL), Canada that illustrate that information sharing, advocacy, and communication are important aspects to consider in chronic disease self-management.
The first research study presents a novel reciprocal teaching and learning approach between health professional students and seniors living with chronic disease in the community using a mixed methods research approach. The second research study illustrates parents’ experiences in accessing diagnostic and treatment services for children and adolescents diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) using a qualitative approach, specifically grounded theory.
Findings from the first study reveal how the concept of ‘Who’s Teaching Who?’ was threaded throughout seniors and professional students narratives that illustrate the importance of shared decision-making in delivery of patient care. ‘Managing the Wait’ was identified as the core category central to the process of parents’ experiences in accessing services for their children and adolescents with ASD. Results from the second study indicate how parental self-advocacy, socioeconomic status, and severity of ASD have an impact on this process.
