Table 6 Summary of which roles and responsibilities patients and providers perceived of one another given the introduction of mHealth into diabetes care
Groups | Codes | Summary | Example quotations |
|---|---|---|---|
T1D participants | Own role | Have control and responsibility for own health | “You have to take responsibility for the things not being done by healthcare … you have to follow up yourself” (T1D_P3) |
Specialists’ role | Nurses support patients with answers to specific questions | “[Want] more specific answers on situations and questions when I am meeting with the nurse. I sometimes have questions about different situations … and two similar situations can become two completely different ones. [And the nurses] never has any good answers” (T1D_P5) | |
Specialists | Own role | • Advisors • To distinguish between what kind of support different patients need | “Task is to be advisors. We can’t change anything, we can just give advice. The data by itself needs to help the patients to do the best thing” (Specialist1) “We have to start differently and expect differently from our patients. This is about individualization of treatment” (Specialist1) |
T1D patients’ role | • Have responsibility and are decision-makers for own health • Must be the one to initiate contact with HCPs when needed | “To make the appointments, and to bring some own generated data” (Specialist2) “Be prepared for the consultation. Because we have so little time” (Specialist1) | |
T2D participants | Own role | Informed data-collectors | “My role [in sharing data] could be to be more exact in documenting information, such as diet, physical activity … that can help the GP confirm where I am in the process” (T2D_P2). |
GP’s role | • Interpret patient-collected data • Authority figures, but GPs may not be the best HCP to answer diabetes questions | “It is interesting … with input from doctor from more examinations and closer follow-up... I miss that, and I am uncertain” (T2D_P4) “[GPs] really lack the knowledge in which we diabetics struggle with [because they] do not have enough education to cope with those specific health issues” (T2D_P2). “There are also diabetes nurses … they can maybe give more input about what you should do and not do … let the doctor take the more serious, while nurses help along the way” (T2D_P1). | |
GPs | Own role | • Teachers of patients • To give advice | “[Patients] are our pupils, and we are their teachers so when they do homework, of course I want to see what they’ve done. And then … I can begin to give some advice” (GP3), |
T2D patients’ role | Have main responsibility for health | “You take care of your own disease, not me. I will help you on the way. It is your responsibility, and you have to have some sort of a motivation for it” (GP2). |