A qualitative exploration of the barriers and facilitators to self-managing multiple long-term conditions amongst people experiencing socioeconomic deprivation.

Background: Globally, it is estimated that one in three adults live with two or more long-term conditions (multiple long-term conditions, MLTCs), that require self-management. People who experience socioeconomic deprivation face significant health inequalities due to a range of interrelated characteristics that lead to a lack of resources and opportunities. Previous research with underserved populations indicate low levels of trust towards primary care providers and potential barriers for developing patient-healthcare professional relationships.

Interventions to improve perinatal outcomes among migrant women in high-income countries: a systematic review protocol.

Introduction: Women who are migrants and who are pregnant or postpartum are at high risk of poorer perinatal outcomes compared with host country populations due to experiencing numerous additional stressors including social exclusion and language barriers. High-income countries (HICs) host many migrants, including forced migrants who may face additional challenges in the peripartum period. Although HICs' maternity care systems are often well developed, they are not routinely tailored to the needs of migrant women.

Impact of fatigue as the primary determinant of functional limitations among patients with post-COVID-19 syndrome: a cross-sectional observational study.

Objectives: To describe self-reported characteristics and symptoms of treatment-seeking patients with post-COVID-19 syndrome (PCS). To assess the impact of symptoms on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and patients' ability to work and undertake activities of daily living.

Design: Cross-sectional single-arm service evaluation of real-time user data.

Development, deployment and evaluation of digitally enabled, remote, supported rehabilitation for people with long COVID-19 (Living With COVID-19 Recovery): protocol for a mixed-methods study.

Introduction: Long COVID-19 is a distressing, disabling and heterogeneous syndrome often causing severe functional impairment. Predominant symptoms include fatigue, cognitive impairment ('brain fog'), breathlessness and anxiety or depression. These symptoms are amenable to rehabilitation delivered by skilled healthcare professionals, but COVID-19 has put severe strain on healthcare systems.

Patients' use of the internet to negotiate about treatment.

The internet provides access to a huge variety of information, including health information. There is, however, a dearth of evidence as to how, and to what ends, patients raise prior use of the internet during medical visits. Analysis is based on the Harnessing Resources from the Internet study.

How do people who use drugs experience treatment? A qualitative analysis of views about opioid substitution treatment in primary care (iCARE study).

Objective: To understand the most significant aspects of care experienced by people in opioid substitution treatment (OST) in primary care settings.

Design: Semistructured individual interviews were conducted, following the critical incidents technique. Interview transcripts were analysed following a thematic analysis approach.

Combining patient talk about internet use during primary care consultations with retrospective accounts. A qualitative analysis of interactional and interview data.

Despite widespread acknowledgement of internet use for information about health, patients report not disclosing use of online health information in consultations. This paper compares patients' reported use of the internet with matched video recordings of consultations. The concepts of doctorability and epistemics are employed to consider similarities and differences between patients' reports in interviews and actions in the consultation.

Health care professionals' views towards self-management and self-management education for people with type 2 diabetes.

Objectives: Significant problems with patients engaging with diabetes self-management education (DSME) exist. The role of healthcare professionals (HCPs) has been highlighted, with a lack of enthusiasm, inadequate information provision and poor promotion of available programmes all cited as affecting patients' decisions to attend. However, little is known about HCPs' views towards DSME.

Protocol paper for the 'Harnessing resources from the internet to maximise outcomes from GP consultations (HaRI)' study: a mixed qualitative methods study.

Introduction: Many patients now turn to the internet as a resource for healthcare information and advice. However, patients' use of the internet to manage their health has been positioned as a potential source of strain on the doctor-patient relationship in primary care. The current evidence about what happens when internet-derived health information is introduced during consultations has relied on qualitative data derived from interview or questionnaire studies.

Reconsidering 'ethics' and 'quality' in healthcare research: the case for an iterative ethical paradigm.

Background: UK-based research conducted within a healthcare setting generally requires approval from the National Research Ethics Service. Research ethics committees are required to assess a vast range of proposals, differing in both their topic and methodology. We argue the methodological benchmarks with which research ethics committees are generally familiar and which form the basis of assessments of quality do not fit with the aims and objectives of many forms of qualitative inquiry and their more iterative goals of describing social processes/mechanisms and making visible the complexities of social practices.

Patient reactions to a web-based cardiovascular risk calculator in type 2 diabetes: a qualitative study in primary care.

Background: Use of risk calculators for specific diseases is increasing, with an underlying assumption that they promote risk reduction as users become better informed and motivated to take preventive action. Empirical data to support this are, however, sparse and contradictory.

Aim: To explore user reactions to a cardiovascular risk calculator for people with type 2 diabetes.

Over-the-counter medicines: professional expertise and consumer discourses.

Ideas of participation and partnership in health care consultations have attracted increasing attention in recent years; however the consequences in terms of the necessary shifts in existing relationships are often overlooked. We examine how pharmacists work to maintain their professional expertise against the rise of health-care consumerism. We draw on the following data from a UK study of consultations for over-the-counter (OTC) medicines in two pharmacies: (i) an outline of the pharmacy owners' views of their practice model, (ii) data from observations and tape recorded consultations (iii) interviews with customers and pharmacists and (iv) views expressed in two feedback sessions discussing vignettes developed from observational and interview-based fieldwork.

Information from the Internet and the doctor-patient relationship: the patient perspective--a qualitative study.

Background: Both doctors and patients may perceive the Internet as a potential challenge to existing therapeutic relationships. Here we examine patients' views of the effect of the Internet on their relationship with doctors.

Methods: We ran 8 disease specific focus groups of between 2 and 8 respondents comprising adult patients with diabetes mellitus, ischaemic heart disease or hepatitis C.

A systematic review of the research on communication between patients and health care professionals about medicines: the consequences for concordance.

Objectives: We draw on a systematic review of research on two-way communication between patients and health practitioners about medicines in order to determine the extent to which concordance is, or is not, being put into practice.

Data Sources: Six electronic databases were searched using the following categories of search terms: health care professionals, patients/consumers, medicine-taking/prescribing and communication. Articles were also identified from handsearches of journals, article reference lists and the Concordance website.

General practitioners' views on shared decision making: a qualitative analysis.

Despite rhetoric about increasing partnership in the consultation, shared decision making (SDM) is not necessarily happening in practice. As patient involvement in decision making cannot be achieved without general practitioners' (GPs) co-operation, attention to their concerns is essential. Previous research has used simulated patients to explore this area.

Self-treatment and its discussion in medical consultations: how is medical pluralism managed in practice?

Recent policy changes in the UK such as deregulation of prescribed medicines and the introduction of telephone helpline services are intended to promote self-treatment. Drawing on interviews with, and consultations between, 35 patients and 20 general practitioners, we use Kleinman's (Patients and Healers in the context of culture: an exploration of the Borderland between Anthropology, Medicine and Psychiatry, University of California Press Ltd., London) model of the three sectors of health care in order to examine the range of self-treatments people use and the discussion of these treatments in medical consultations.

'It's the best of two evils': a study of patients' perceived information needs about oral steroids for asthma.

OBJECTIVES: To explore the sources of patients' knowledge about the potential side-effects of oral steroids prescribed to treat asthma. METHODS: Seventeen in-depth interviews were conducted with patients taking prescribed oral steroid medication (prednisolone) for asthma. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and the data organized according to common themes.