Ways of experiencing asthma management. Variations among general practitioners in Sweden.
OBJECTIVE
To identify and describe variations in ways of experiencing asthma management among general practitioners (GPs) in Sweden.


METHODS
Descriptive and explorative study using a phenomenographic approach. Semi-structured tape-recorded face-to-face interviews, focusing on the GP's own experiences regarding asthma management.


METHODS
Primary health care.


METHODS
Twenty GPs (12 men, eight women) from 16 health centres in seven counties in central Sweden, 15 from rural areas and small cities and five from medium sized cities or Stockholm suburbs.


METHODS
Descriptions of ways of experiencing asthma management.


RESULTS
Four categories were identified, which described qualitatively different ways of experiencing asthma management: A. The GP focuses on transferring factual knowledge to the patient; B. The GP primarily addresses the patients' application of knowledge in management of the disease; C. The GP aims at improving the patients' understanding of the disease and its management as a prerequisite for self-management; D. The GP concentrates on how to maintain/improve the patient's quality of life despite the asthma disease.


CONCLUSIONS
The GPs describe their ways of experiencing asthma management in qualitatively different ways, likely to have implications for patient care and educational programmes on asthma for GPs.
Lundborg
C S
CS
Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Wahlström
R
R
Dall'Alba
G
G
D001249:Asthma / Q000628:therapy*; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D013548:Sweden