Mulder Bob C, Algra Hylkje, Cruijsen Esther, Geleijnse J Marianne, Winkels Renate M, Kroeze Willemieke
Strategic Communication group, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, the Netherlands.
Department of Nursing, Christian University of Applied Sciences (CHE), Ede, the Netherlands.
PEC Innov. 2025 May 25;6:100405. doi: 10.1016/j.pecinn.2025.100405. eCollection 2025 Jun.
This article reports the findings of focus-group discussions with healthcare providers concerning the facilitators and barriers they experience when engaging in therapeutic patient education (TPE).
Five focus-group discussions were held with a total of 21 primary and secondary healthcare providers. Discussions were moderated using a topic list that was co-created with healthcare providers. All discussions were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically.
Healthcare providers consider TPE important, but it requires long-term, continuous effort in order to be effective. They sometimes doubt its effectiveness and their own efficacy. Moreover, healthcare providers experience a lack of a supportive environment. Overall, their experiences could be captured in four categories of determinants of engaging in TPE: Capabilities, Motivation, Physical Context and Social Context.
Therapeutic patient education requires healthcare providers to be capable and motivated. To maintain the continuous effort needed, healthcare providers need to be supported both socially (e.g. by colleagues and management) and physically (e.g. through communication infrastructure).
In contrast to previous studies focusing on the motivation and capability of healthcare providers to perform TPE, this study contributes to innovation in health communication by identifying social and physical factors that determine whether TPE is delivered continuously under actual or perceived constraints in terms of time and effectiveness.
本文报告了与医疗服务提供者进行焦点小组讨论的结果，内容涉及他们在开展治疗性患者教育（TPE）时所遇到的促进因素和障碍。
与总共21名初级和二级医疗服务提供者进行了五次焦点小组讨论。讨论采用了与医疗服务提供者共同制定的主题列表进行主持。所有讨论均进行了录音、逐字转录并进行了主题分析。
医疗服务提供者认为TPE很重要，但要使其有效需要长期持续的努力。他们有时会怀疑其有效性以及自身的效能。此外，医疗服务提供者还面临缺乏支持性环境的问题。总体而言，他们的经历可归纳为开展TPE的四类决定因素：能力、动机、物理环境和社会环境。
治疗性患者教育要求医疗服务提供者具备能力且有积极性。为了维持所需的持续努力，医疗服务提供者需要在社会层面（例如得到同事和管理层的支持）和物理层面（例如通过通信基础设施）获得支持。
与以往侧重于医疗服务提供者开展TPE的动机和能力的研究不同，本研究通过确定在实际或感知的时间和有效性限制下决定TPE是否能持续开展的社会和物理因素，为健康传播领域的创新做出了贡献。
