TY - JOUR
T1 - Patient activation and visit preparation in African American veterans receiving mental health care
AU - Eliacin, Johanne
AU - Rollins, Angela L.
AU - Burgess, Diana J.
AU - Salyers, Michelle P.
AU - Matthias, Marianne S.
PY - 2016/10/1
Y1 - 2016/10/1
N2 - Objective: Patient activation refers to one's ability and willingness to manage their health and health care. Visit preparation, question formulation, and other elements of patient activation are core components of patient-centered care. However, they are inconsistently translated into clinical practice. Multiple factors have been shown to influence patient activation and associated activities, such as patients' race and ethnicity, illness, and clinical settings. Because race and ethnicity are important factors in patient activation, and we know little about ethnic minority patients with respect to patient activation, the goal of this study was to examine the contexts, barriers, and facilitators influencing African American veterans' involvement in visit preparation in mental health outpatient settings. Method: We conducted qualitative interviews with 49 African American veterans with mental illness receiving outpatient psychiatric care at a large, urban U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center, and used a grounded theory approach to analyze the data. Results: Findings from this study identify patients' beliefs about preparing for the clinical encounter, the patient-provider relationship, and lack of information about patient activation as barriers to engaging in visit preparation activities. Conclusions and Implications for Practice: Findings indicate the need for greater awareness of the challenges of visit preparation as well as the potential consequences of lack of preparation. Results suggest the incorporation of visit preparation as part of routine mental health visits, and as a tool to increase patient activation, especially among minorities. Findings also inform intervention studies by emphasizing the need to explore sociocultural factors that may impact patient activation programs.
AB - Objective: Patient activation refers to one's ability and willingness to manage their health and health care. Visit preparation, question formulation, and other elements of patient activation are core components of patient-centered care. However, they are inconsistently translated into clinical practice. Multiple factors have been shown to influence patient activation and associated activities, such as patients' race and ethnicity, illness, and clinical settings. Because race and ethnicity are important factors in patient activation, and we know little about ethnic minority patients with respect to patient activation, the goal of this study was to examine the contexts, barriers, and facilitators influencing African American veterans' involvement in visit preparation in mental health outpatient settings. Method: We conducted qualitative interviews with 49 African American veterans with mental illness receiving outpatient psychiatric care at a large, urban U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center, and used a grounded theory approach to analyze the data. Results: Findings from this study identify patients' beliefs about preparing for the clinical encounter, the patient-provider relationship, and lack of information about patient activation as barriers to engaging in visit preparation activities. Conclusions and Implications for Practice: Findings indicate the need for greater awareness of the challenges of visit preparation as well as the potential consequences of lack of preparation. Results suggest the incorporation of visit preparation as part of routine mental health visits, and as a tool to increase patient activation, especially among minorities. Findings also inform intervention studies by emphasizing the need to explore sociocultural factors that may impact patient activation programs.
KW - African Americans
KW - Mental illness
KW - Patient activation
KW - Qualitative research
KW - Veterans
KW - Visit preparation
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U2 - 10.1037/cdp0000086
DO - 10.1037/cdp0000086
M3 - Article
C2 - 27100269
AN - SCOPUS:84964762439
SN - 1099-9809
VL - 22
SP - 580
EP - 587
JO - Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology
JF - Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology
IS - 4
ER -