Journal
SAGE OPEN MEDICINE
Volume 1, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
DOI: 10.1177/2050312113510001
Keywords
Multimorbidity; patient views; practitioner views; primary care; self-management
Categories
Funding
- National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) School for Primary Care Research
- NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care for Greater Manchester
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Objectives: The aim of this article is to offer insight into how professionals and patients understand and experience multimorbidity and how these accounts differ, and how they affect attitudes and engagement with self-management. Methods: Semi-structured interviews with 20 primary healthcare practitioners and 20 patients with at least 2 long-term conditions (including coronary heart disease, diabetes, osteoarthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and depression). Thematic analysis was used, and themes were identified using an open-coding method. Results: Practitioners associated multimorbidity with complexity and uncertainty in the clinic, leading to emotional strain and 'heart sink'. Patient accounts differed. Some described multimorbidity as problematic when it exacerbated their symptoms and caused emotional and psychological strain. Others did not perceive multimorbidity as problematic. Self-management was seen by practitioners and patients to be a key element of managing multiple conditions, but drivers for prompting and engaging in self-management differed between patients and practitioners. Conclusion: This study suggests that recommendations for clinical practice for multimorbid patients should take into account the gap in perceptions between practitioner and patients about experiences of multimorbidity. Not least, practice would need to reflect the tension between practitioners' and patients' accounts about the role and benefits of self-management in the presence of multimorbidity.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available