Cross-cultural validation of the patient-practitioner orientation scale among primary care professionals in Spain.

Background: In recent decades, many self-report instruments have been developed to assess the extent to which patients want to be informed and involved in decisions about their health as part of the concept of person-centred care (PCC). The main objective of this research was to translate, adapt and validate the Patient-Practitioner Orientation Scale (PPOS) using a sample of primary care health-care professionals in Spain.

Methods: Baseline analysis of PPOS scores for 321 primary care professionals (general practitioners and nurses) from 63 centres and 3 Spanish regions participating in a randomized controlled trial.

Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a virtual community of practice to improve the empowerment of patients with ischaemic heart disease: study protocol of a randomised controlled trial.

Introduction: Virtual Communities of Practice (VCoP) or knowledge-sharing virtual communities offer ubiquitous access to information and exchange possibilities for people in similar situations, which might be especially valuable for the self-management of patients with chronic diseases. In view of the scarce evidence on the clinical and economic impact of these interventions on chronic conditions, we aim to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a VCoP in the improvement of the activation and other patient empowerment measures in patients with ischaemic heart disease (IHD).

Methods And Analysis: A pragmatic randomised controlled trial will be performed in Catalonia, Madrid and Canary Islands, Spain.

Acceptability and feasibility of a virtual community of practice to primary care professionals regarding patient empowerment: a qualitative pilot study.

Background: Virtual communities of practice (vCoPs) facilitate online learning via the exchange of experiences and knowledge between interested participants. Compared to other communities, vCoPs need to overcome technological structures and specific barriers. Our objective was to pilot the acceptability and feasibility of a vCoP aimed at improving the attitudes of primary care professionals to the empowerment of patients with chronic conditions.

Effectiveness of a virtual intervention for primary healthcare professionals aimed at improving attitudes towards the empowerment of patients with chronic diseases: study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial (e-MPODERA project).

Background: Communities of practice are based on the idea that learning involves a group of people exchanging experiences and knowledge. The e-MPODERA project aims to assess the effectiveness of a virtual community of practice aimed at improving primary healthcare professional attitudes to the empowerment of patients with chronic diseases.

Methods: This paper describes the protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial.