Exploring Entertainment Medicine and Professionalization of Self-Care: Interview Study Among Doctors on the Potential Effects of Digital Self-Tracking

Abstract

BackgroundNowadays, digital self-tracking devices offer a plethora of possibilities to both healthy and chronically ill users who want to closely examine their body. This study suggests that self-tracking in a private setting will lead to shifting understandings in professional care. To provide more insight into these shifts, this paper seeks to lay bare the promises and challenges of self-tracking while staying close to the everyday professional experience of the physician.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to (1) offer an analysis of how medical doctors evaluate self-tracking methods in their practice and (2) explore the anticipated shifts that digital self-care will bring about in relation to our findings and those of other studies.MethodsA total of 12 in-depth semistructured interviews with general practitioners (GPs) and cardiologists were conducted in Flanders, Belgium, from November 2015 to November 2016. Thematic analysis was applied to examine the transcripts in an iterative process.ResultsFour major themes arose in our body of data: (1) the patient as health manager, (2) health obsession and medicalization, (3) information management, and (4) shifting roles of the doctors and impact on the health care organization. Our research findings show a nuanced understanding of the potentials and pitfalls of different forms of self-tracking. The necessity of contextualization of self-tracking data and a professionalization of self-care through digital devices come to the fore as important overarching concepts.ConclusionsThis interview study with Belgian doctors examines the potentials and challenges of self-monitoring while focusing on the everyday professional experience of the physician. The dialogue between our dataset and the existing literature affords a fine-grained image of digital self-care and its current meaning in a medical-professional landscape.

Using Physical Activity Trackers in Arthritis Self‐Management: A Qualitative Study of Patient and Rehabilitation Professional Perspectives

“…Our findings align with existing studies that foreground how interactions between patients and clinicians impact and are impacted by patients’ use of technologies with clinicians . Although our findings align with those in the current literature suggesting that use of PATs has the potential to enhance communication between patients and clinicians , they also provide a more balanced view of expectations of what PATs may realistically offer in terms of supporting arthritis self‐management.…”

Toward Digital Self-monitoring of Multiple Sclerosis

“…and skills for using digital self-monitoring tools in their daily lives. 8 For smartphone apps and activity trackers to become adopted by people with MS, patients will need to experience the value of these tools and feel well equipped to use the tools in their daily lives. 6 Therefore, we focus on the daily life experiences, needs, and wishes of people with MS regarding digital self-monitoring through smartphone apps and activity trackers.…”

Factors for Supporting Primary Care Physician Engagement With Patient Apps for Type 2 Diabetes Self-Management That Link to Primary Care: Interview Study (Preprint)

“…PCPs understood the theoretical value of real-time notifications but perceived that this feature would fail in real clinical settings, and could actually put patient safety at risk. This has been identified in previous research on digital self-monitoring [16]. Furthermore, many PCPs voiced that this would not support them in their goal to build the patient's capacity for independent self-management.…”

“…Health care providers value self-management apps because they perceive that they encourage patient engagement, provide them with a deeper and more reliable understanding of their patients' behaviors, and improve communication during consultations by providing visualizations of patient data [14][15][16][17].…”

“…This could include the overwhelming complexity of the data that is available to health care providers, provider responsibility to respond to shared self-monitoring data, and health care provider perceptions of poor motivation on the part of patients [14,16]. Overcoming the challenge of poor provider uptake is crucial as strong provider endorsement is in turn a key factor for patient uptake of online tools [23].…”