Patients’ experiences with participating in a team-based person-centred intervention for patients at risk of or diagnosed with COPD in general practice

BACKGROUND: Symptoms and complications of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can affect daily activities and quality of life, and patients with COPD require long-term follow-up by their general practitioner. Providing patients with or at risk of COPD practical skills and motivation to improve their self-management is important. On this background, an interdisciplinary follow-up program was designed based on the Guided Self-Determination counselling method to facilitate problem-solving and mutual decision-making between healthcare professionals and patients. The aim of the study was to explore patients and healthcare professionals` experiences with the Guided Self-Determination-program to investigate feasibility issues. METHODS: A qualitative design was used to get insights in the experiences of receiving the Guided Self-Determination counselling program. In total, 13 patients with COPD (mean age 71.7 ± 7.7 years) 4 were current smokers, and 7 at risk of COPD (mean age 54.1 ± 9.9 years) all current smokers, received the Guided Self-Determination program. The researchers performed individual semi-structured telephone interviews after the 12 months Guided Self-Determination program with two patients at risk of COPD, four patients with COPD, three nurses, and five general practitioners. The intervention consisted of structured consultations with the nurse and patient in collaboration with the general practitioner at baseline and after 3, 6, and 12 months. The Guided Self-Determination method comprised facilitation of a mutual reflection process between the patient and the nurse to enhance self-management skills. Each consultation lasted for 60 min. The interviews were analysed using thematic analyses. RESULTS: Two themes were identified: (1) A structured follow-up is challenging but motivating. (2) A counselling method that opens for conversation, but it requires resources. CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicated that patients with or at risk of COPD experienced enhanced self-management skills after participating in a structured and systematic team-based follow-up in general practice with use of the Guided Self-Determination method. The regularity of the follow-up seemed to be important to succeed to help the patients making lifestyle changes to increase health benefits. However, the Guided Self-Determination method was experienced as time consuming among the general practitioners and nurses, and there are currently no available financial rates for this type of treatment in Norway which may be a barrier to further implementation. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The trial is registered in ClinicalTrials.gov (ID: NCT04076384).