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Background: Research indicates that successful co-creation depends on a shared understanding of co-creation and its related concepts. However, it also shows that, in practice, views on co-creation and how to do it differ. This study aims to explore how patient innovators and researchers in a partnership research programme understand co-creation and how this understanding changes over time., Methods: An explorative longitudinal qualitative study was conducted with the 'Patients in the Driver's Seat' partnership research programme. Fifty-eight interviews were performed and analysed using a reflexive thematic approach., Findings: Four different ways of understanding co-creation were identified. These can be instrumentally conceptualized as themes using the inputs-process-outputs model: (1) combining different perspectives, experiences and backgrounds (inputs); (2) deliberately dynamic and exploratory (process); (3) striving for equity, not equality (process); and (4) diverse value creation, tangible and intangible (outputs). Together, these themes represent the varied understandings of co-creation among partnership programme members., Conclusions: Our study of patient innovators and researchers identified four distinct yet complementary understandings of co-creation. The study suggests that co-creation is the sum of its essential components, which can be divided into inputs, process, and outputs., Patient or Public Contribution: This study, and the partnership programme it explored, aims to improve the relevance of research for patients and informal caregivers through an improved understanding of the concept of co-creation within research on patient innovation. All patient innovators involved in the programme were invited, as interviewees and researchers, to contribute to the study design and data analysis., (© 2024 The Author(s). Health Expectations published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Introduction: Many people with mental health issues recover and re-establish their identity and find hope and meaning in life, irrespective of symptom burden. Recovery can be supported through learning and education, aiming at strengthening self-management and coping skills. Such education offered by peers with lived experience is rare and scarcely reported. The aim was to assess the perceived value of an educational intervention, called the Patient School (PS), organized within a psychiatry organization by employed patient peers with lived experience., Methods: A qualitative case study based on interviews with people with mental health issues (n = 8), peer-organizers (n = 4) and healthcare professionals (n = 4), and documents such as schedules and educational materials were used. First, the interviews were transcribed and analyzed using inductive conventional content analysis. Second, the findings were synthesized into a programme theory, illustrated in a logic model., Results: The perceived value of the PS was related to the willingness of peer-organizers to share their own experiences, a sense of belonging, sharing with like-minded and new knowledge, practical skills, roles and attitudes acquired. These experiences were empowering, decreased stigma and reassured user participants that one's identity is not defined by mental health issues. This increased self-confidence paves the way for increased self-management and creates a potential for a more efficient use of healthcare services., Conclusion: We conclude that this PS, organized within a psychiatry organization by salaried peers, achieved the same positive results as those reported in the literature and showed the value of having peer-organizers being part of the staff., Patient or Public Contribution: This research was performed in a partnership between academic researchers and persons with user experience of psychiatric services, engaged in the educational intervention in the focus of the study. The research plan was co-designed, and the analysis of the data collected was performed in collaboration. The participation of the co-researchers with user experience gave the project team access to the study site, provided the team with insights into to study context and contributed with an understanding promoting the interpretation of the findings., (© 2024 The Authors. Health Expectations published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objective: To explore migrant physicians' conceptions about working in rural and remote areas in Sweden to understand what influences their motivation to work in these areas., Method and Material: The study employed a qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews with 24 migrant physicians. Transcripts were thematically analysed., Results: Conceptions were identified about foremost work content and tasks, and about living in rural and remote areas. Work content and tasks related to the health care systems, type of health care facility, duties, specialty, resources, patient population, colleagues, and professional development. Conceptions about living concerned geographical characteristics, people living in rural and remote areas, opportunities for travelling, family, leisure activities, social life, and language skills. Conceptions seemed to be influenced by individual, professional and societal aspects from both previous countries and Sweden. Conceptions and biographical aspects both appeared to affect motivation., Discussion: Motivation regarding working in rural and remote areas appeared to be influenced by conceptions of these areas. A specific type of place could be understood as being able to provide (or not) the external conditions needed for fulfilling needs and reaching goals, whether professional or personal, and as a tool for reaching or facilitating the achievement of these. Conceptions of an area can hence affect motivation and choices for where to work and live. However, biographical aspects also impact motivation. Our results indicate that positive rural experience in the recipient country might be a predictor for motivation., Conclusion: Professional and personal life and are intertwined. Conceptions about an area influence willingness to work there. Willingness is also affected by, and intertwined with, other aspects such as previous experiences, age, marital status and family circumstances., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

This article is the next instalment in our 'How to…' series about qualitative research, and focuses on interviews. In many ways, conducting research interviews can be compared with talking to a patient or a student, yet there are specific elements to consider if you want the interview data to be useful for a research study. In this article, we will reflect on what a 'good' research interview is. We will provide an overview of different types of interviews, both much used and more adventurous. Finally, we present a list of dilemmas and frequently asked questions, with tips, tricks and suggestions. This practical and concise article will be helpful when starting a qualitative research project using interviews. Getting access to participants' inner worlds is the real trick to acquiring rich data., (© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd and The Association for the Study of Medical Education.)

This article, on how to choose the types of data that are most appropriate to your study, is the third in a series that aims to support researchers within clinical education who are new to qualitative research. Although individual or focus group interviews may seem to be the most obvious source of data in qualitative research, we describe some alternative data sources and how they can be of value in answering certain research questions. We provide examples of how research participants may tell you about their experiences through audio diaries, how they may show you what is going on by drawing a picture, and how you can study what actually happens in practice by observing how people interact, move, dress and use space. By doing so, we hope to catch your interest and inspire you to think of all the different possibilities when setting up a qualitative study. In qualitative research, almost everything in the real world can serve as data., (© 2018 The Authors. The Clinical Teacher published by Association for the Study of Medical Education and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Introduction: This study explores narratives of physicians negotiating liminality while becoming and being mentors for medical students. Liminality is the unstable phase of a learning trajectory in which one leaves behind one understanding but has yet to reach a new insight or position. Methods: In this study, we analysed semi‐structural interviews of 22 physician mentors from group‐based mentoring programmes at two Norwegian and one Canadian medical school. In a dialogical narrative analysis, we applied liminality as a sensitising lens, focusing on informants' stories of becoming a mentor. Results: Liminality is an unavoidable aspect of developing as a mentor. Which strategies mentors resort to when facing liminality are influenced by their narrative coherence. Some mentors thrive in liminality, enjoying the possibility of learning and developing as mentors. Others deem mentoring and the medical humanities peripheral to medicine and thus struggle with integrating mentor and physician identities. They may contradict themselves as they shift between their multiple identities, resulting in rejection of the learning potentials that liminality affords. Conclusion: Mentors with integrated physician and mentor identities can embrace liminality and develop as mentors. Those mentors with contradicting dialogues between their identities may avoid liminality if it challenges their understanding of who they are and make them experience discomfort, confusion and insufficiency while becoming a mentor. Support of the mentoring role from the clinical culture may help these physicians develop internal dialogues that reconcile their clinician and mentor identities. This work outlines the struggles inherent in physicians integrating "mentor" into their identity, which can lead them to tell contradicting stories as they shift between multiple identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Partnership research practices involving various stakeholder groups are gaining ground. Yet, the research community is still exploring how to effectively coproduce research together. This study describes (a) key programme developments in the creation of a 6‐year partnership research programme in Sweden, and (b) explores the hopes, expectations, and experiences of patient innovators (i.e., individuals with lived experience as patients or caregivers who drive health innovations) and researchers involved in the programme during the first years. Methods: We conducted a prospective longitudinal qualitative study spanning the first 2 years of the programme. Data consisted of meeting protocols and interviews with 14 researchers and 6 patient innovators; 39 interviews were carried out in three evenly‐spaced rounds. We identified significant events and discussion themes in the meeting protocols and analyzed the interviews using thematic analysis, applying a cross‐sectional recurrent approach to track changes over time. Findings: Meeting protocols revealed how several partnership practices (e.g., programme management team, task forces, role description document) were cocreated, supporting the sharing of power and responsibilities among programme members. Based on the analysis of interviews, we created three themes: (1) paving the path to a better tomorrow, reflecting programme members' high expectations; (2) going on a road trip together, reflecting experiences of finding new roles and learning how to cocreate; (3) finding the tempo: from talking to doing, reflecting experiences of managing challenges and becoming productive as a team. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that sharing, respecting, and acknowledging each other's experiences and concerns helps build mutual trust and shape partnership practices. High expectations beyond research productivity suggest that we need to consider outcomes at different levels, from the individual to society, when evaluating the impact of partnership research. Patient or Public Contribution: The research team included members with formal experiences as researchers and members with lived experiences of being a patient or informal caregiver. One patient innovator coauthored this paper and contributed to all aspects of the research, including the design of the study; production of data (as interviewee); interpretation of findings; and drafting the manuscript. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the establishment experiences of physicians in the Swedish medical context who have been trained outside the European Union. The study used a qualitative approach with a quasi-longitudinal research design. The data were gathered via 63 semi-structured interviews with migrant physicians at three different periods. The data were analysed using qualitative thematic content analysis, adopting the theory on the context dependence of knowledge, which includes different forms of knowledge as sensitising concepts in the discussion. The MPs perceived themselves as having the medical knowledge (encoded knowledge) needed to work in Sweden. However, they perceived that they needed to develop knowledge of how to use the encoded knowledge in the Swedish medical context. The needed knowledge was thus foremost encultured, embedded, embodied, or embrained. The results are presented in the following themes: medical knowledge; knowledge of the healthcare system and its variations; knowledge of administrative routines; understanding the role as a physician, interaction and hierarchies between physicians and other healthcare staff; understanding the interaction and hierarchies between physicians and patients; and knowledge of the Swedish language. Knowledge, as described in the themes, function as gateways that needs to be unlocked for practising medicine in a new context. Embedded, embrained, embodied, and encultured knowledge interact and are interdependent, and the different forms of knowledge work as gateways to other forms of knowledge, and thus, they open for each other. However, to pass the gateways, managing the common language is important. We conclude that language is an enabler and a key to unlocking gateways to practise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To analyse and describe general practitioners' perceptions of the notion of a 'personal responsibility for health'. Interview study, phenomenographic analysis. Swedish primary health care. General Practitioners (GPs). Using the phenomenographic method, the different views of the phenomenon (here: personal responsibility for health) were presented in an outcome space to illustrate the range of perceptions. The participants found the notion of personal responsibility for health relevant to their practice. There was a wide range of perceptions regarding the origins of this responsibility, which was seen as coming from within yourself; from your relationships to specific others; and/or from your relationship with the generalized other. Furthermore, the expressions of this responsibility were perceived as including owning your health problem; not offloading all responsibility onto the GP; taking active measures to keep and improve health; and/or accepting help in health. The GP was described as playing a key role in shaping and defining the patient's responsibility for his/her health. Some aspects of personal responsibility for health roused strong emotions in the participants, especially situations where the patient was seen as offloading all responsibility onto the GP. The notion of personal responsibility for health is relevant to GPs. However, it is open to a broad range of interpretations and modulated by the patient-physician interaction. This may make it unsuitable for usage in health care priority settings. More research is mandated to further investigate how physicians work with patient responsibility, and how this affects the patient-physician relationship and the physician's own well-being. The notion of personal responsibility for health has relevance for discussions about priority setting and person-centred care. This study, using a phenomenographic approach, investigated the views of Swedish GPs about the notion of personal responsibility for health. The participants found the notion relevant to their practice. They expressed a broad range of views of what a personal responsibility for health entails and how it arises. The GP was described as playing a key role in shaping and defining the patient's responsibilities for his/her health. The notion was emotionally charged to the participants, and when patients were seen as offloading all responsibility onto the GP this gave rise to frustration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY: As a clinician interested in qualitative research, you are likely to have pondered whether a particular study is trustworthy. How do you know whether qualitative research findings are valid and can be applied in your setting? The quality standards you would look for in quantitative research do not apply. Furthermore, qualitative research is conducted within a number of paradigms, or ways of understanding the nature of reality and knowledge, each associated with different ways of defining, understanding and reporting quality. This 'How to ...' article aims to support health care practitioners, educators and researchers to recognise some of the essential characteristics or 'markers' of high‐quality qualitative research. We hope that this article will support those reflecting on the quality of their own research, those justifying research design to funders and those reviewing qualitative research for journals or for inclusion in reviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This article is the next instalment in our 'How to...' series about qualitative research, and focuses on interviews. In many ways, conducting research interviews can be compared with talking to a patient or a student, yet there are specific elements to consider if you want the interview data to be useful for a research study. In this article, we will reflect on what a 'good' research interview is. We will provide an overview of different types of interviews, both much used and more adventurous. Finally, we present a list of dilemmas and frequently asked questions, with tips, tricks and suggestions. This practical and concise article will be helpful when starting a qualitative research project using interviews. Getting access to participants' inner worlds is the real trick to acquiring rich data [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic care management is dependent on productive interactions between patients and healthcare professionals. Digital health technologies (eHealth) open up new possibilities for improving the quality of care, but there is a limited understanding of what productive interactions entail. This study explores characteristics of productive interactions to support self-care and healthcare in the context of eHealth use in diabetes care. We collected qualitative data based on interviews with nurses and responses to open-ended survey questions from patients, prior to and post using an eHealth service for self-monitoring and digital communication. We found that eHealth's influence on productive interactions was characterized by unconstrained access, health parameter surveillance, and data-driven feedback, with implications for self-care and healthcare. Our findings indicate that eHealth perforates the boundaries that define interactions under traditional, non-digital care. This was manifested in expressions of uncertainty and in blurred boundaries between self-care and healthcare. We conclude that the attainment of a sustainable eHealth ecosystem will require healthcare to acknowledge eHealth as a disruptive change that may require re-organization to optimally support the productive use of eHealth services for both patients and staff, which includes agreement on new routines, as well as social interaction rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]