SEE-Diabetes, a patient-centered diabetes self-management education and support for older adults: Findings and information needs from patients' perspectives

Abstract

Aims: This study identified the information needs of people with diabetes aged 65 and older through surveys and focus groups to inform the development of a patient-centered educational decision aid for diabetes care, SEE-Diabetes (Support-Engage-Empower-Diabetes).

Methods: We conducted survey (N = 37) and three focus groups (N = 9). The survey collected demographics, diabetes duration, insulin usage, and clinic notes accessibility through a patient portal. In focus groups, participants evaluated the Assessment and Plan section of three selected deidentified clinic notes to assess readability and helpfulness for diabetes care.

Results: The mean age of participants was 66 (24-82, SD = 12), and 22 were female (60%). The mean diabetes duration was 20.9 years (1-63, SD=15). Most participants (80%) read their clinical notes via patient portal. In the focus groups, the readability of clinic notes was noted as a primary concern because of medical abbreviations and poor formatting. Participants found the helpfulness of clinic notes was negatively impacted by vague or insufficient self-care information.

Conclusions: We found the high use of patient portal for reading clinic notes, which offers a use case opportunity for the proposed SEE-Diabetes educational aid. Feedback about the readability and helpfulness of clinic notes will be considered during the design process.

Keywords: Diabetes; Diabetes self-management education and support; Focus groups; Older adults; Patient-centered education; Survey.

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest

None.

Copyright © 2022 Primary Care Diabetes Europe. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Figures

Figure 1.

Overview of our proposed SEE-Diabetes to be integrated in EHR clinic note for diabetes visit

Figure 2.. Participants’ opinions for each randomly de-identified clinic note of people with diabetes.

We asked participants to review each clinic note and answered questions: Q1) Is the clinic note easy to read and why or why not? and Q2) Is this note helpful for people with diabetes? The table shows the readability and the number of participants who agreed and disagreed with two questions for each clinic note.