Abstract
BackgroundEfforts to counteract abuse in health care, defined as patient-experienced abuse, have mainly focused on interventions among caregivers. This study is the first to test an online intervention focusing on how patients can counteract such abuse. The intervention aimed at increasing patients’ intention and perceived ability to act in future situations where they risk experiencing abuse.MethodsParticipants were recruited through a nephrology clinic in Sweden. The intervention consisted of an online program that aimed to stimulate patients to think of possible actions in situations in which they risk experiencing abuse. The program comprised stories and exercises in text and comic form. The participants filled out a questionnaire immediately before and after going through the program, as well as during follow-up four to eight weeks later.ResultsForty-eight patients (39 %) participated in the study and spent, on average, 41 min responding to questions and going through the program. Both men and women, of various ages and educational backgrounds, participated. An increase in participants' self-reported ability to identify opportunities to act in a given situation was seen immediately afterwards, as well as during follow up.ConclusionThe current study suggests that it is feasible and most likely useful to a variety of patients to work with the provided material that has the aim of counteracting abuse in health care. It would be of interest to further develop ways of using comics and to test similar interventions in other health care settings.
Highlights
Efforts to counteract abuse in health care, defined as patient-experienced abuse, have mainly focused on interventions among caregivers
We report on a first intervention against abuse in health care, defined as events that patients experience as abuse, and where patients are involved as actors
This study is the first to report on an online patient intervention to counteract abuse in health care
Summary
Efforts to counteract abuse in health care, defined as patient-experienced abuse, have mainly focused on interventions among caregivers. Interventions against abuse as experienced by patients in different health care settings have mostly involved actors who are responsible for the quality of care: health care professionals, hospital management, and policymakers. Examples of such interventions include the introduction or revision of behavioural or ethical guidelines [1,2,3], workshops to change nurses’ attitudes [2], or workshops to protect staff ’s moral resources [4]. One large category of incidents that have received increasing attention is medical errors [9] These errors, ranging from near-misses to fatal accidents, are always defined by the medical community; patients never decide what is a medical error and what is not.
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