Personal Health Record Design: Qualitative Exploration of Issues Inhibiting Optimal Use

Abstract

Personal health records (PHRs) have been purported to enhance patients’ self-management of diabetes (1). However, few studies have examined the barriers to PHR use resulting from design issues identified by actual users (2). To address this gap, interviews were conducted with 59 patients 3 to 6 months after receiving hands-on training in the use of the Microsoft Health Vault for PHRs to manage their diabetes-related health information. Health Vault was selected because of its universal accessibility and functionalities meeting the greatest number of patient desires (3). The central question guiding the interviews was “How have you used the PHR to manage your diabetes-related health information?” Data were analyzed through a process of coding, category development of similar codes, and overarching theme development. Twenty-three of the 59 participants (39%) sustained PHR use. Table 1 displays the demographic, clinical, and thematic comparisons between PHR users and nonusers. Three themes describing barriers to use from patients’ perspectives could be traced back to PHR design considerations. View this table: Table 1 Demographic characteristics …