Use of Online Self-Management Diaries in Asthma and COPD: A Qualitative Study of Subjects' and Professionals' Perceptions and Behaviors.

Background: Online self-management diaries are used to support patients' self-management skills and facilitate associated behavioral changes. Although web-based diaries are well-known as a potential self-management tool, reasons that patients use (or do not use) self-management diaries, as well as perceptions and behaviors related to diary use, remain largely unknown.

Methods: Semistructured interviews (n = 30) were conducted with health-care professionals and subjects to understand perceptions and behaviors related to self-management diary use for asthma and COPD in 2 hospitals in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.