Abstract

Aim: Supported asthma self-management improves outcomes. During routine consultations, healthcare professional (HCP) communication can influence a person's skills, knowledge and confidence to manage their own condition. Nested within the IMPlementing IMProved Asthma self-management as RouTine (IMP2ART) programme, we aimed to observe asthma review consultations to assess HCP delivery of patient-centred care and behaviour change strategies to promote self-management.
Methods: In a mixed-method study we video-recorded asthma reviews in 10 practices implementation n~5; control n~5) participating in the IMP2ART UK-wide cluster-RCT and interviewed HCPs. Analytical methods included: ALFA Toolkit Multi-Channel Video Observation to code and quantify types of speech; Patient Centred Observation Form and The Behaviour Change Counselling Index, to assess patient-centeredness and behaviour change techniques used by HCPs. Interviews were analysed thematically.
Results: Initial analysis suggests that HCPs in IMP2ART implementation practices deliver a more patient centred review, use more behaviour change techniques, and spend more time within consultations discussing supported self-management-related strategies.
Conclusions: The insights from observing asthma reviews provide evidence to suggest that IMP2ART strategies enable HCPs to embed supported self-management more effectively within asthma consultations. The findings also add to the evidence that HCPs should be provided with specific training skills to implement a patient-centred asthma review, where behaviour change and collaborative supported self-management strategies are prioritised.