Table 2 Categories (in italics) and Themes developed from focus group transcripts
Patients’ self-constructed beliefs about their condition | |
Minimizing Severity | Minimizing the importance of T2DM and self-management |
Emotional/Motivational | Shame or self-blame about motivational challenges self-managing T2DM |
Perceptions of Physicians Behaviors | |
Testing the Relationship | Participants described difficulty understanding the physician and used their assessment to determine whether to remain active. |
Pressure | Participants indicated that a physician used a lecturing/controlling style to direct behavior change. |
Power – Distance | An imbalance of power in the medical interaction and a resulting relational distance (separation) between patient and physician. |
Perceptions about external influences on the medical encounter | |
Lack of Continuity | Problems with not knowing the physician and not having a physician who knows you. |
Electronic Health Record (EHR) | Participants felt the computer diverted the physician’s attention and participants made assumptions about information in the EHR. |
Time | Participants believed that physicians were busy and that time constraints limited communication |