Barbara G. Bokhour

Sexuality after treatment for early prostate cancer: exploring the meanings of "erectile dysfunction".

AbstractOBJECTIVE: To explore perceptions of the impact of erectile dysfunction on men who had undergone definitive treatment for early nonmetastatic prostate cancer. DESIGN: Seven focus groups of men with early prostate cancer. The groups were semistructured to explore men’s experiences and quality-of-life concerns associated with prostate cancer and its treatment. SETTING: A staff model health maintenance organization, and a Veterans Affairs medical center. PATIENTS: Forty-eight men who had been treated for early prostate cancer 12 to 24 months previously. RESULTS: Men confirmed the substantial effect of sexual dysfunction on the quality of their lives. Four domains of quality of life related to men’s sexuality were identified: 1) the qualities of sexual intimacy; 2) everyday interactions with women; 3) sexual imagining and fantasy life; and 4) men’s perceptions of their masculinity. Erectile problems were found to affect men in both their intimate and nonintimate lives, including how they saw themselves as sexual beings. CONCLUSIONS: Erectile dysfunction, the most common side effect of treatment for early prostate cancer, has far-reaching effects upon men’s lives. Assessment of quality of life related to sexual dysfunction should address these broad impacts of erectile function on men’s lives. Physicians should consider these effects when advising men regarding treatment options. Physicians caring for patients who have undergone treatment should address these psychosocial issues when counseling men with erectile dysfunction.

Measuring patients' perceptions of the outcomes of treatment for early prostate cancer.

Background. Compared with careful attention to the physical (eg, urinary, bowel, sexual) dysfunction that may follow treatment, little attention has been given to the behavioral, emotional, and interpersonal changes that the diagnosis of early prostate cancer and subsequent physical dysfunction may bring. Objective. To construct patient‐centered measures of the outcomes of treatment for early prostate cancer. Research Design. Qualitative study followed by survey of early prostate cancer patients and group of comparable patients with no history of prostate cancer. Analysis of focus groups identified relevant domains of quality of life, which were represented by Likert scale items included in survey questionnaires. Psychometric analyses of survey data defined scales evaluated with respect to internal consistency and validity. Results. Qualitative analysis identified three domains: urinary control, sexuality, and uncertainty about the cancer and its treatment. Psychometric analysis defined 11 scales. Seven were generically relevant to most older men: urinary control (eg, embarrassment with leakage), sexual intimacy (eg, anxiety about completing intercourse), sexual confidence (eg, comfort with sexuality), marital affection (eg, emotional distance from spouse/partner), masculine self esteem (eg, feeling oneself a whole man), health worry (eg, apprehensiveness about health changes), and PSA concern (eg, closely attending to ones PSA). Four scales were specific to the treatment experience: perceived cancer control, quality of treatment decision making, regret of treatment choice, and cancer‐related outlook. Conclusion. The scales provide definition and metrics for patient‐centered research in this area. They complement measures of physical dysfunction and bring into resolution outcomes of treatment that have gone unnoticed in previous studies.

Modifiable Risk Factors for Suboptimal Control and Controller Medication Underuse Among Children With Asthma

OBJECTIVES. Our aims were (1) to describe rates of suboptimal control and controller medication underuse in a diverse population of children with asthma and (2) to identify potentially modifiable parental behaviors and beliefs associated with these outcomes. METHODS. We conducted telephone interviews with parents of 2- to 12-year-old children with persistent asthma, in a Medicaid plan and a large provider group. Suboptimal control was defined as ≥4 symptom days, ≥1 symptom night, or ≥4 albuterol use days in the previous 2 weeks. Controller medication underuse was defined as suboptimal control and parent report of <6 days/week of inhaled steroid use. Multivariate analyses identified factors that were independently associated with suboptimal control and controller medication underuse. RESULTS. Of the 754 study children, 280 (37%) had suboptimal asthma control; this problem was more common in Hispanic children (51%) than in black (37%) or white (32%) children. Controller medication underuse was present for 133 children (48% of those with suboptimal asthma control and 18% overall). Controller medication underuse was more common among Hispanic (44%) and black (34%) children than white (22%) children. In multivariate analyses, suboptimal control was associated with potentially modifiable factors including low parental expectations for symptom control and high levels of worry about competing household priorities. Controller medication underuse was associated with potentially modifiable factors including parental estimation of asthma control that was discordant with national guidelines and no set time to administer asthma medications. CONCLUSIONS. Deficiencies in asthma control and controller medication use are associated with potentially modifiable parental beliefs, which seem to mediate racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in suboptimal control and controller medication underuse.

Hypertensive patients' race, health beliefs, process of care, and medication adherence.

BACKGROUNDAfrican Americans have higher rates of hypertension and worse blood pressure (BP) control than Whites, and poorer medication adherence may contribute to this phenomenon. We explored associations among patients’ race, self-reported experiences with clinicians, attitudes and beliefs about hypertension, and ultimately, medication adherence, among a sample with no racial disparities in BP control, to determine what lessons we could learn from patients and providers in this setting.METHODSWe recruited 793 White and African-American (58%) patients previously diagnosed with hypertension from 3 VA medical centers to participate in survey assessments of each of the above dimensions, subsequent to a primary care clinic visit.RESULTSAfrican-American patients’ providers were significantly more active in advising and counseling about hypertension care and medication adherence. African-American patients indicated greater knowledge or heightened awareness of the importance of controlling their BP, but there were no race differences on a summary adherence measure. In multivariate models modeling medication adherence, race was not significant, but having been told to split one’s pills, believing one’s BP continues to be high, and having one’s provider discuss things to do to make it easier to take BP medications were each significantly associated with worse adherence, whereas having more confidence in one’s ability to take BP medications as prescribed was associated with better adherence (all p’s  ≤ .02).CONCLUSIONWhen both physicians and patients take BP management seriously, disparities in BP adherence and control may be reduced.

Effects of Paying Physicians Based on their Relative Performance for Quality

BackgroundStudies examining the effectiveness of pay-for-performance programs to improve quality of care primarily have been confined to bonus-type arrangements that reward providers for performance above a predetermined threshold. No studies to date have evaluated programs placing providers at financial risk for performance relative to other participants in the program.ObjectiveThe objective of the study is to evaluate the impact of an incentive program conferring limited financial risk to primary care physicians.ParticipantsThere were 334 participating primary care physicians in Rochester, New York.DesignThe design of the study is a retrospective cohort study using pre/post analysis.MeasurementsThe measurements adhere to 4 diabetes performance measures between 1999 and 2004.ResultsWhile absolute performance levels increased across all measures immediately following implementation, there was no difference between the post- and pre-intervention trends indicating that the overall increase in performance was largely a result of secular trends. However, there was evidence of a modest 1-time improvement in physician adherence for eye examination that appeared attributable to the incentive program. For this measure, physicians improved their adherence rate on average by 7 percentage points in the year after implementation of the program.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates a modest effect in improving provider adherence to quality standards for a single measure of diabetes care during the early phase of a pay-for-performance program that placed physicians under limited financial risk. Further research is needed to determine the most effective incentive structures for achieving substantial gains in quality of care.

Communication in interdisciplinary team meetings: What are we talking about?

Interdisciplinary teams are central to the care of the older patient in long-term care settings. Critical to the success of caring for these patients is the communication between providers about patient care. This study examines professional communication practices in interdisciplinary team meetings, a common forum for discussing patient care. Two teams at a long-term care facility specializing in patients with Alzheimers participated in this qualitative exploratory study. All team members participated in semi-structured interviews. In addition, seven team meetings in which 31 patients were discussed were audio and video taped. Team members discussed the importance of team meetings to help coordinate care provided to patients, while also expressing concern about the effectiveness of the meetings to reach this goal. Through detailed discourse analyses of transcripts of the meetings, we identified three different communication practices in team meetings: giving report, writing report, and collaborative discussion. Only the latter practice met the goals indicated by the team members to coordinate and make joint decisions about patient care and allowed for team members to collaboratively solve problems. We discuss one case study to exemplify how the use of these communication practices results in the omission of information central to making decisions regarding patient care.

Barriers and facilitators to routine HIV testing in VA primary care.

ABSTRACTBACKGROUNDApproximately 21% of the 1.1 million HIV-infected persons in the United States are unaware of their HIV status. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommend routine opt-out HIV testing for all patients aged 13–64. Yet little is known about patient and provider perspectives on routine HIV testing.OBJECTIVEWe sought to understand patient and provider perspectives on the adoption of routine HIV testing within the US Department of Veterans Affairs.DESIGNWe conducted four focus groups with patients and two focus groups with primary care providers to explore perceptions of, communication about, and barriers and facilitators to routine HIV testing in primary care.PARTICIPANTSConvenience sample of patients and primary care providers at two geographically diverse Veterans’ Affairs Medical Centers.APPROACHWe conducted grounded thematic analyses of transcribed audio-recordings of focus groups to identify major themes, identifying similarities and differences between patient and provider perspectives.MAIN RESULTSPatients and providers concurred that implementation of routine HIV testing, treating HIV like other chronic diseases, and removing requirements for written informed consent and pre-test counseling were of benefit to patients and to public health. Patients, however, wished to have HIV testing routinely offered by providers so that they could decide whether or not to be tested. Veterans also stated that routinizing testing would help destigmatize HIV. Six steps to communicating about routine testing (“the 6 R’s”) were identified.CONCLUSIONSPatients and providers appear ready for implementation of routine HIV testing. However, providers should use patient-centered communication strategies to ease patients’ concerns about confidentiality and stigma associated with HIV disease.

How do providers assess antihypertensive medication adherence in medical encounters

AbstractBACKGROUND: Poor adherence to antihypertensives has been shown to be a significant factor in poor blood pressure (BP) control. Providers’ communication with patients about their medication-taking behavior may be central to improving adherence. OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to characterize the ways in which providers ask patients about medication taking. DESIGN: Clinical encounters between primary care providers and hypertensive patients were audiotaped at 3 Department of Veterans’ Affairs medical centers. PARTICIPANTS: Primary care providers (n=9) and African-American and Caucasian patients (n=38) who were diagnosed with hypertension (HTN). APPROACH: Transcribed audiotapes of clinical encounters were coded by 2 investigators using qualitative analysis based on sociolinguistic techniques to identify ways of asking about medication taking. Electronic medical records were reviewed after the visit to determine the BP measurement for the day of the taped encounter. RESULTS: Four different aspects of asking about medication were identified: structure, temporality, style and content. Open-ended questions generated the most discussion, while closed-ended declarative statements led to the least discussion. Collaborative style and use of lay language were also seen to facilitate discussions. In 39% of encounters, providers did not ask about medication taking. Among patients with uncontrolled HTN, providers did not ask about medications 33% of the time. CONCLUSION: Providers often do not ask about medication-taking behavior, and may not use the most effective communication strategies when they do. Focusing on the ways in which providers ask about patients’ adherence to medications may improve BP control.

Conceptual issues in the design and implementation of pay-for-quality programs.

This article identifies and discusses key conceptual issues in designing and implementing pay-for-quality programs. Such programs offer financial incentives to providers for achieving predefined quality targets. The purpose of the article is to provide health care professionals with a framework for designing, implementing, and evaluating pay-for-quality programs. Examples are drawn from the Rewarding Results demonstration project for which the authors serve as the national evaluation team.

Racial/Ethnic variation in parent perceptions of asthma.

OBJECTIVE Black and Latino children with asthma have worse morbidity and receive less controller medication than their white peers. Scant information exists on racial/ethnic differences in parent perceptions of asthma. To compare parent perceptions among black, Latino, and white children with asthma in 4 domains: (1) expectations for functioning with asthma; (2) concerns about medications; (3) interactions with providers; and (4) competing family priorities. METHODS In this cross-sectional study, we conducted telephone interviews with parents of children with persistent asthma in a Medicaid health plan and a multispecialty provider group in Massachusetts. To measure expectations for functioning and other domains, we adapted multi-item scales from past studies. Associations between race/ethnicity and these domains were evaluated in multivariate analyses that controlled for age, gender, household income, parental education, insurance, and language. The response rate was 72%. RESULTS Of the 739 study children, 24% were black, 21% Latino, and 43% white. Parents of black and Latino children had lower expectations for their childrens functioning with asthma (P < .001), higher levels of worry about their childrens asthma (P < .001), and more competing family priorities (P = .004) compared with parents of white children. Parents of Latino children had higher levels of concern about medications for asthma than parents of black or white children (P = .002). There were no differences among racial/ethnic groups in reports of interactions with the provider of their childrens asthma care. CONCLUSIONS Efforts to eliminate disparities in childhood asthma may need to address variation in expectations and competing priorities between minority and white families.