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- Page navigation anchor for RE: A Virtual Community of Practice to Improve Primary Health Care Professionals’ Attitudes Toward Patient Empowerment (e-MPODERA): A Cluster Randomized TrialRE: A Virtual Community of Practice to Improve Primary Health Care Professionals’ Attitudes Toward Patient Empowerment (e-MPODERA): A Cluster Randomized Trial
In light of greater emphasis on patient-centered care and shared decision-making, this study focused on both timely and valuable research questions. While patient-centered care has gained traction across diverse patient settings, it is important to recognize that not all healthcare providers (HCPs) have received patient empowerment training and/or may feel unable to implement new techniques due to clinical time constraints. While the virtual community of practice (vCoP) used in this study slightly improved HCPs’ attitudes toward patient empowerment, based on patient activation measure (PAM) scores, HCPs did not empower patients as expected.
Over the course of this study, a significant proportion of HCPs dropped out (27% in the intervention group versus 14% in the control group). Contrary to our expectations, HCP age was not a significant predictor of dropping out of the study. However, baseline patient-provider orientation scale (PPOS) scores did predict HCP dropout. This finding underscores the need to explore whether a stand-alone vCoP can alter the beliefs of long-term practicing HCPs. As such, we wonder if these findings indicate the need for increased emphasis on patient empowerment much earlier on in the career trajectory of HCPs (e.g., during training).
Importantly, only HCPs in the intervention group had access to the vCoP. All patients recruited to participate in the study had at least one of ten chronic diseases. In retrospect, d...
Show MoreCompeting Interests: None declared.