Chronically ill patients are one of the fastest growing customer groups of health care services in Finland and in the world. The overall well-being of persons with chronic illness relies on a successful self-care process that requires fluent cooperation with health care professionals. Although the importance of cooperation is realised in numerous studies and care guides in the context of diabetes care, the elements of interpersonal communication that drive this cooperation are not clear.
These elements are studied in this dissertation through the significant interpersonal communication experiences of patients with type 2 diabetes. The experiences in question are defined in this study as communication situations with doctors or nurses which have stayed well in mind for the patients, and which have affected positively or negatively to patients´ self-care from the patients´ point of views. Thus, the main research question is: how the significant interpersonal communication experience with a health care professional is associated with to the self-management of a patient with type 2 diabetes?
The study is carried out in Finland with qualitative methods by using open E-survey and semi-structured interviews. The research material is analyzed using inductive qualitative content analysis. In all of these methods, the critical incident technique is adapted. The research results can be utilised for example in the developing of the care practices and education services concerning the care of chronic illnesses.
Researcher: Maija Peltola, maija.peltola at uta.fi, +358 40 841 7591