Patients’ and Health Care Professionals’ Experiences of a Digital Self-Management System for Asthma: Qualitative Study

TL;DR

A digital asthma management system empowers patients and healthcare professionals, but clear communication and role clarification are needed for success.

Contribution

The study introduces insights into how a digital self-management system for asthma fosters patient empowerment and collaboration with healthcare professionals.

Findings

The digital system enabled patients to take a more active role in managing their asthma.

Patients engaged with their data when necessary but expected personalized follow-up from healthcare professionals.

The study highlights the need for clarifying roles and responsibilities to improve digital system adoption.

Abstract

Living with asthma—especially in its severe forms—can significantly impact daily life, including social activities, work, travel, and household responsibilities. Collaboration between patients and health care professionals (HCPs) is frequently lacking, particularly regarding treatment goals. Self-management has been shown to mitigate the negative effects of asthma. Technical solutions might support self-management for patients with chronic diseases and their collaboration with HCPs.

This explorative study aims to understand how patients and HCPs experience the use of a digital self-management system for asthma monitoring.

This qualitative study was conducted at 5 primary care centers in Sweden and involved 20 participants: 14 patients who had utilized the digital self-management system Asthmatuner for at least 6 months and 6 specialist asthma nurses. Individual semistructured interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis to explore patterns and relationships within the data.

We identified 1 main theme, that is, “data-supported empowerment,” and 3 subthemes, that is, (1) empowerment by awareness, knowledge, and learning; (2) contact health care-patient; and (3) managing the monitoring. The theme of data-supported empowerment emerged as a synthesis of these findings, reflecting how the self-management system enabled patients to take a more active role in managing their medications and health. While most patients did not monitor their data continuously, they engaged with it when they felt it was necessary. Some patients expressed expectations of personalized follow-up from HCPs based on their monitoring data; however, these expectations were not always fulfilled. We also revealed a need to adapt and clarify the overlapping responsibilities of patients and HCPs.

The digital self-management system for asthma was well received by both patients and HCPs, as it promoted empowerment. Clear communication about changes in workflow and responsibilities is essential to ensure the successful implementation of digital systems and improved health care delivery.

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