The temporal nature of social context: Insights from the daily lives of patients with HIV
Authors
Fix, Gemmae M.Dryden, Eileen M.
Boudreau, Jacqueline
Kressin, Nancy R.
Gifford, Allen L.
Bokhour, Barbara G.
UMass Chan Affiliations
Department of Population and Quantitative Health SciencesDocument Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2021-02-11Keywords
patientslife contexts
Social Determinants of Health
HIV
Electronic medical records
HIV diagnosis and management
HIV epidemiology
Epidemiology
Health Information Technology
Health Services Administration
Health Services Research
Mental and Social Health
Virus Diseases
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
BACKGROUND: Patients' life contexts are increasingly recognized as important, as evidenced by growing attention to the Social Determinants of Health (SDoH). This attention may be particularly valuable for patients with complex needs, like those with HIV, who are more likely to experience age-related comorbidities, mental health or substance use issues. Understanding patient perceptions of their life context can advance SDoH approaches. OBJECTIVES: We sought to understand how aging patients with HIV think about their life context and explored if and how their reported context was documented in their electronic medical records (EMRs). DESIGN: We combined life story interviews and EMR data to understand the health-related daily life experiences of patients with HIV. Patients over 50 were recruited from two US Department of Veterans Affairs HIV clinics. Narrative analysis was used to organize data by life events and health-related metrics. KEY RESULTS: EMRs of 15 participants documented an average of 19 diagnoses and 10 medications but generally failed to include social contexts salient to patients. In interviews, HIV was discussed primarily in response to direct interviewer questions. Instead, participants raised past trauma, current social engagement, and concern about future health with varying salience. This led us to organize the narratives temporally according to past-, present-, or future-orientation. "Past-focused" narratives dwelled on unresolved experiences with social institutions like the school system, military or marriage. "Present-focused" narratives emphasized daily life challenges, like social isolation. "Future-focused" narratives were dominated by concerns that aging would limit activities. CONCLUSIONS: A temporally informed understanding of patients' life circumstances that are the foundation of their individualized SDoH could better focus care plans by addressing contextual concerns salient to patients. Trust-building may be a critical first step in caring for past-focused patients. Present-focused patients may benefit from support groups. Future-focused patients may desire discussing long term care options.Source
Fix GM, Dryden EM, Boudreau J, Kressin NR, Gifford AL, Bokhour BG. The temporal nature of social context: Insights from the daily lives of patients with HIV. PLoS One. 2021 Feb 11;16(2):e0246534. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0246534. PMID: 33571283; PMCID: PMC7877603. Link to article on publisher's site
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0246534Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/41816PubMed ID
33571283Related Resources
Rights
This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.Distribution License
http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1371/journal.pone.0246534
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.
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