IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v13y2016i11p1097-d82369.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Knowledge, Awareness, and Practices of Portuguese General Practitioners Regarding Multimorbidity and its Management: Qualitative Perspectives from Open-Ended Questions

Author

Listed:
  • Filipe Prazeres

    (Faculdade de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade da Beira Interior, Covilhã 6200-506, Portugal
    Centro de Saúde de Aveiro, Aveiro 3810-000, Portugal)

  • Luiz Santiago

    (Faculdade de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade da Beira Interior, Covilhã 6200-506, Portugal
    Unidade de Saúde Familiar Topázio, Coimbra 3020-171, Portugal)

Abstract

Multimorbidity’s high prevalence and negative impact has made it a subject of worldwide interest. The main aim of this study was to access the Portuguese knowledge, awareness, and practices of general practitioners (GPs) regarding multimorbidity and its management, in order to aid in the development of interventions for improving outcomes in multimorbid patients in primary care. A web-based qualitative descriptive study was carried out in the first trimester of 2016 with primary care physicians working in two districts of the Centre region of Portugal. Open-ended questions were analysed via inductive thematic content analysis. GPs pointed out several difficulties and challenges while managing multimorbidity. Extrinsic factors were associated with the healthcare system logistics’ management (consultation time, organization of care teams, clinical information) and society (media pressure, social/family support). Intrinsic factors related to the GP, patient, and physician-patient relationship were also stated. The most significant conclusion to emerge from this study is that although GPs perceived difficulties and challenges towards multimorbidity, they also have the tools to deal with them: the fundamental characteristics of family medicine. Also, the complex care required by multimorbid patients needs adequate consultation time, multidisciplinary teamwork, and more education/training.

Suggested Citation

  • Filipe Prazeres & Luiz Santiago, 2016. "The Knowledge, Awareness, and Practices of Portuguese General Practitioners Regarding Multimorbidity and its Management: Qualitative Perspectives from Open-Ended Questions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-14, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:13:y:2016:i:11:p:1097-:d:82369
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/11/1097/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/11/1097/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marengoni, A. & Winblad, B. & Karp, A. & Fratiglioni, L., 2008. "Prevalence of chronic diseases and multimorbidity among the elderly population in Sweden," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 98(7), pages 1198-1200.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jianxing Yu & Fangying Song & Yingying Li & Zhou Zheng & Huanhuan Jia & Yuzhe Sun & Lina Jin & Xihe Yu, 2020. "Multimorbidity Analysis of 13 Systemic Diseases in Northeast China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-12, March.
    2. de Bruin, Simone R. & Versnel, Nathalie & Lemmens, Lidwien C. & Molema, Claudia C.M. & Schellevis, François G. & Nijpels, Giel & Baan, Caroline A., 2012. "Comprehensive care programs for patients with multiple chronic conditions: A systematic literature review," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(2), pages 108-145.
    3. Joël Coste & José M Valderas & Laure Carcaillon-Bentata, 2022. "The epidemiology of multimorbidity in France: Variations by gender, age and socioeconomic factors, and implications for surveillance and prevention," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(4), pages 1-21, April.
    4. Palmer, Katie & Marengoni, Alessandra & Forjaz, Maria João & Jureviciene, Elena & Laatikainen, Tiina & Mammarella, Federica & Muth, Christiane & Navickas, Rokas & Prados-Torres, Alexandra & Rijken, Mi, 2018. "Multimorbidity care model: Recommendations from the consensus meeting of the Joint Action on Chronic Diseases and Promoting Healthy Ageing across the Life Cycle (JA-CHRODIS)," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(1), pages 4-11.
    5. Héctor Pifarré i Arolas & Christian Dudel, 2019. "An Ordinal Measure of Population Health," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 143(3), pages 1219-1243, June.
    6. Maria João Forjaz & Carmen Rodriguez-Blazquez & Inmaculada Guerrero-Fernández de Alba & Antonio Gimeno-Miguel & Kevin Bliek-Bueno & Alexandra Prados-Torres & on behalf of the CHRODIS Expert Group on M, 2019. "Application of the JA-CHRODIS Integrated Multimorbidity Care Model (IMCM) to a Case Study of Diabetes and Mental Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-13, December.
    7. Concepció Violan & Quintí Foguet-Boreu & Gemma Flores-Mateo & Chris Salisbury & Jeanet Blom & Michael Freitag & Liam Glynn & Christiane Muth & Jose M Valderas, 2014. "Prevalence, Determinants and Patterns of Multimorbidity in Primary Care: A Systematic Review of Observational Studies," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(7), pages 1-9, July.
    8. Laura Nedzinskienė & Elena Jurevičienė & Žydrūnė Visockienė & Agnė Ulytė & Roma Puronaitė & Vytautas Kasiulevičius & Edita Kazėnaitė & Greta Burneikaitė & Rokas Navickas, 2021. "Structure and Distribution of Health Care Costs across Age Groups of Patients with Multimorbidity in Lithuania," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-12, March.
    9. Struckmann, Verena & Leijten, Fenna R.M. & van Ginneken, Ewout & Kraus, Markus & Reiss, Miriam & Spranger, Anne & Boland, Melinde R.S. & Czypionka, Thomas & Busse, Reinhard & Rutten-van Mölken, Mauree, 2018. "Relevant models and elements of integrated care for multi-morbidity: Results of a scoping review," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(1), pages 23-35.
    10. Althea La Foucade & Gershwin Davis & Nelleen Baboolal & Don Bethelmie & Christine Laptiste & Haleema Ali-Sisbane & Karl Theodore, 2020. "The socio-economic determinants of multimorbidity among the elderly population in Trinidad and Tobago," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(9), pages 1-18, September.
    11. María Luisa Delgado-Losada & Jaime Bouhaben & Eduardo Arroyo-Pardo & Aránzazu Aparicio & Ana María López-Parra, 2022. "Loneliness, Depression, and Genetics in the Elderly: Prognostic Factors of a Worse Health Condition?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-29, November.
    12. Tzu-Chueh Wang & Pou-Jen Ku & Hai-Lin Lu & Kung-Chuan Hsu & Damien Trezise & Hue-Yu Wang, 2019. "Association between Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use and Chronic Diseases in the Elderly," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-12, June.
    13. Maria Kyprianidou & Demosthenes Panagiotakos & Antigoni Faka & Maria Kambanaros & Konstantinos C Makris & Costas A Christophi, 2020. "Prevalence of multimorbidity in the Cypriot population; A cross-sectional study (2018–2019)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(10), pages 1-14, October.
    14. Fabienne Abadie & Christian Boehler & Maria Lluch & Ramon Sabes-Figuera, 2014. "Monitoring and Assessment Framework for the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (MAFEIP) First report on outcome indicators," JRC Research Reports JRC91162, Joint Research Centre.
    15. Alaazi, Dominic A. & Menon, Devidas & Stafinski, Tania & Hodgins, Stephen & Jhangri, Gian, 2021. "Quality of life of older adults in two contrasting neighbourhoods in Accra, Ghana," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    16. Rachelle Meisters & Polina Putrik & Daan Westra & Hans Bosma & Dirk Ruwaard & Maria Jansen, 2021. "Is Loneliness an Undervalued Pathway between Socio-Economic Disadvantage and Health?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-13, September.
    17. Myung Ki & Yo Han Lee & Yong-Soo Kim & Ji-Yeon Shin & Jiseun Lim & James Nazroo, 2017. "Socioeconomic inequalities in health in the context of multimorbidity: A Korean panel study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(3), pages 1-14, March.
    18. John Tayu Lee & Fozia Hamid & Sanghamitra Pati & Rifat Atun & Christopher Millett, 2015. "Impact of Noncommunicable Disease Multimorbidity on Healthcare Utilisation and Out-Of-Pocket Expenditures in Middle-Income Countries: Cross Sectional Analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(7), pages 1-18, July.
    19. Inge Kirchberger & Christa Meisinger & Margit Heier & Anja-Kerstin Zimmermann & Barbara Thorand & Christine S Autenrieth & Annette Peters & Karl-Heinz Ladwig & Angela Döring, 2012. "Patterns of Multimorbidity in the Aged Population. Results from the KORA-Age Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(1), pages 1-7, January.
    20. Karolina Agur & Gary McLean & Kate Hunt & Bruce Guthrie & Stewart W. Mercer, 2016. "How Does Sex Influence Multimorbidity? Secondary Analysis of a Large Nationally Representative Dataset," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-12, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:13:y:2016:i:11:p:1097-:d:82369. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.