title: Patient asthma networks: understanding who is important and why.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Multidisciplinary care (MDC) has been proposed as an essential component to the delivery of effective and efficient health care. However, patients have shown to establish their own sources of health advice and support outside the professional domain. It remained unclear as to how patients' choices may impact on MDC.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to explore the role of patients in MDC, specifically (i) how and why patients select sources of health services, information and support, that is, their health connections and (ii) the key elements contributing to the nature and development of patients' health connections.
  
  
  METHODS
  In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with asthma participants from Sydney, Australia. Participants were recruited from a broad range of primary health-care access points. Face-to-face and telephone interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, independently reviewed by two authors and analysed using a qualitative approach.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 47 interviews were conducted. Participants established health connections around their asthma needs and selected a combination of professional, personal and impersonal health connections for advice and support. Several key elements were reported to contribute towards the nature and development of patients' health networks. These included participants' perceptions of the role of HCPs, their level of trust in relationships, the convenience of accessing health advice and their perceptions of asthma.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  By exploring patients' sources of health advice and support, this research provided new insight into how patients choose to manage asthma, particularly the way in which they selected health connections and their potential impact on MDC.
authors: Discipline of Pharmacology, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors: Lynn H
authors: LH
authors: Cheong
authors: Discipline of Pharmacology, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.|Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors: Carol L
authors: CL
authors: Armour
authors: Discipline of Pharmacology, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.|Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors: Sinthia Z
authors: SZ
authors: Bosnic-Anticevich
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012944:Social Support; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Australia; chronic disease; collaborative care; health networks; patient; qualitative methodology