Due to copyright issues, an electronic copy of the thesis must be ordered from the faculty. For the faculty to have time to process the order, the order must be received by the faculty at the latest 2 days before the public defence. Orders received later than 2 days before the defence will not be processed. After the public defence, please address any inquiries regarding the thesis to the candidate.
Trial Lecture – time and place
See Trial Lecture.
Adjudication committee
- First opponent: Associate professor Palle Bager, Aarhus University,
- Second opponent: Professor Farah Magrabi, Macquarie University,
- Third member and chair of the evaluation committee: Professor Lise Solberg Nes, University of Oslo
Chair of the Defence
Associate professor Harald Hrubos-Strøm, University of Oslo
Principal Supervisor
Associate professor Randi Opheim, University of Oslo
Summary
This thesis focuses on self-management support through digital health information for patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). IBD patients require skills to manage fluctuating symptoms and medications but report inadequate access to reliable and relevant health information. Addressed through three exploratory substudies of IBD patients conducted at a Norwegian university hospital, the thesis aimed to promote patient engagement and empowerment in health and care by identifying strategies for focusing and tailoring digital health information in IBD, to support IBD patients’ self-management activities.
Substudy 1 explored digital health information needs and preferences in self-management through a convergent mixed methods design, including 17 patient interviews, focus groups with 11 healthcare providers and an audit of 1,481 telephone consultation records. Substudy 2 examined 380 patients’ health literacy and digital health literacy and their associations with clinical, psychosocial and demographic characteristics in a cross-sectional design. Substudy 3 examined the relationship between health information needs reported by patients in Substudy 1 (N = 17), and illness perceptions reported by patients in Substudy 2 (N = 380). Using a sequential mixed methods design, the study searched for profiles of patients’ self-management priorities.
Patients reported health information needs that varied with diagnosis, gender, age and disease duration. Lower health literacy and digital health literacy were associated with higher disease activity, lower treatment adherence, and lower employment and biological therapy. Three patient profiles differed in disease activity, quality of life, self-management engagement and social support. The thesis concludes that digital health information should be focused and tailored to meet IBD patients’ needs, health literacy and illness perceptions to strengthen health engagement, empowerment and self-management.
Additional information
Contact the research support staff.