Patient work from a context and time use perspective: a mixed-methods study protocol.

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Patient Experience
• Chronic Disease Management

Background:

• Self-management is promoted for chronic conditions but patient effort is often overlooked.
• Many individuals face challenges in effectively practicing self-management.
• The concept of 'patient work' offers a framework to understand the patient's perspective on self-management tasks, effort, time, and context.

Purpose of the Study:

• To capture the full spectrum of patient work in type 2 diabetes with chronic comorbidities.
• To utilize a novel approach combining digital observation and qualitative data.
• To gain comprehensive insights into effective self-management strategies applicable to other chronic conditions.

Main Methods:

• Mixed-methods observational study design.
• Involves prestudy interviews, 24-hour digital device observation (camera, time-use diary), and poststudy interviews.
• Purposive sampling of adults with type 2 diabetes and comorbidities, ensuring gender balance and varied medication use (insulin vs. oral).

Main Results:

• Thematic analysis of interviews to understand health behaviors and motivations.
• Analysis of digital device and diary data to quantify duration, time, context, and patterns of health-related behaviors.
• Identification of key components and challenges within patient work for type 2 diabetes self-management.

Conclusions:

• This study provides a detailed understanding of the 'patient work' involved in managing type 2 diabetes.
• Findings offer insights into optimizing self-management support for patients with chronic conditions.
• The novel methodology can be extended to study patient work in other chronic disease contexts.