Perspectives of healthcare professionals and people living with HIV in dialogue: on information sharing to improve communication at the consultation

AIDS Care. 2024 Jul;36(sup1):6-14. doi: 10.1080/09540121.2023.2282034. Epub 2023 Nov 21.

Abstract

We report on a qualitative Group Survey study involving four healthcare professionals (HCPs) and eight people living with HIV who were recipients of care in the United Kingdom (UK). The survey aimed to bring participants' perspectives into dialogue and establish consensus about how communication between HCPs delivering HIV care and their patients could be improved in the context of the routine care consultation. Responses from both parties were anonymously collated, thematically analysed, and shared back with participants in two subsequent survey rounds to support consensus-building on matters of concern and identify thematic insights. In this paper, we report three themes for informing future designs of tools and services to support communication between patients and HCPs: Patient-clinician relationship for trusted sharing; Self-reporting psychosocial information to support Whole-person care; and Perceived barriers for online trusted sharing with HCPs. Our findings highlight key areas of concern and further investigation is needed to understand how self-reported information may be meaningfully captured, interpreted and processed by HCPs in ways that are trusted by patients who voice privacy and security concerns.

Keywords: Qualitative survey; health data; privacy; security; trust; whole-person care.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Attitude of Health Personnel
  • Communication*
  • Female
  • HIV Infections* / psychology
  • HIV Infections* / therapy
  • Health Personnel* / psychology
  • Humans
  • Information Dissemination* / methods
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Professional-Patient Relations
  • Qualitative Research*
  • Referral and Consultation
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • United Kingdom