Quality and availability of information in primary healthcare: the patient perspective

• Objective: To explore lived experiences of patients communicating with and receiving information from primary health care. Design: Qualitative study analysing transcribed interviews by descriptive content analysis. Setting: Recruitment and interviews took place in southern Sweden in three primary care centres where privacy and undisturbed interview environments was ensured. Subjects: 17 primary care patient informants, 9 men and 8 women aged 31 - 84 years with varying educational levels from primary school to post graduates. Main outcome measures: Thematic categories and subcategories reporting the lived experience of the patients. Results: The analysis yielded three categories and identified as a main theme a feeling of unpredictability based on the emotional aspects of feeling lost and vulnerable when trying to access primary care. The category" Need for easy access" illustrated emotional aspects of importance to patients when contacting primary health care." Need for individual adaptation" described the need to individually adapt health related information." Information exchange" comprised experiences of information evaluation and understanding new information. Conclusions: Patients generally trusted the information received, but experienced a lack of communication, which evoked feelings of unpredictability and abandonment. Experiences of limited access to primary health care and the need for varying degrees of adaptation on the part of the individual were factors of concern for how patients experienced the care.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Emotions

health literacy

information dissemination

information

literacy

information seeking behavior

primary health care

qualitative

content analysis

literacy

needs

communication

Health Care Sciences & Services

General & Internal Medicine

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