Abstract
The rise of digital mobile communications has made possible novel research methods that can provide a better understanding of patients’ experience of non-communicable diseases. This study explores the opportunities and challenges in employing “digital diaries” via mobile phones to track the lived experiences of people with hypertension in the Philippines. Following in-depth interviews, 40 hypertensive adults were invited to submit digital diaries over 12 months. Mobile phones were found to be an efficient way of reaching participants, although it was difficult to collect in-depth narratives about their experiences using the medium beyond nominal responses about symptoms and treatment. Possible explanations include the asymptomatic nature of hypertension, which limited the participants’ experiences of the illness, as well as the platform itself, which our mostly-elderly, low-income participants may not be comfortable with. Despite these challenges, “digital diaries” hold potential for the study of other chronic conditions, provided that researchers engage in extensive co-production with participants to understand their preferences. Researchers also need more training in the use of these methods appropriately as part of a suite of methods for capturing the experience of people living with chronic illness.
Highlights
Diaries are well suited in collecting longitudinal data, reducing the time between an experience and the account given of it, and reducing potential recall bias (Alaszewski, 2006; Bolger et al, 2003)
Given the ubiquity of mobile phones in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), we examine the potential of using a digital diary to collect patient narratives about hypertension management in the Philippines
In the Philippines, 600 adult participants were randomly selected from poor communities in an urban and a rural setting to participate in the quantitative survey
Summary
Diaries are well suited in collecting longitudinal data, reducing the time between an experience and the account given of it, and reducing potential recall bias (Alaszewski, 2006; Bolger et al, 2003). Diary keeping has been used in health research since the 1930s (Keleher & Verrinder, 2003) In this respect, it offers advantages over more commonly used research methods, such as interviews (Reis, 1994). The potential advantages offered by unsolicited diary entries, with spontaneously recorded accounts of everyday life, has been acknowledged in studying patients’ health and suffering (Jones, 2000). They have been used for chronic health conditions because of their ability to track patients’ lived experiences in detail (Alaszewski, 2006; Jacelon & Imperio, 2005). Diary tools are seen as having the potential to capture authentic experiences that
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