Maria Svedbo Engström

What is important for you? A qualitative interview study of living with diabetes and experiences of diabetes care to establish a basis for a tailored Patient-Reported Outcome Measure for the Swedish National Diabetes Register

Objectives There is a growing emphasis on the perspective of individuals living with diabetes and the need for a more person-centred diabetes care. At present, the Swedish National Diabetes Register (NDR) lacks patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) based on the perspective of the patient. As a basis for a new PROM, the aim of this study was to describe important aspects in life for adult individuals with diabetes. Design Semistructured qualitative interviews analysed using content analysis. Setting Hospital-based outpatient clinics and primary healthcare clinics in Sweden. Participants 29 adults with type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM) (n=15) and type 2 DM (n=14). Inclusion criteria: Swedish adults (≥18 years) living with type 1 DM or type 2 DM (duration ≥5 years) able to describe their situation in Swedish. Purposive sampling generated heterogeneous characteristics. Results To live a good life with diabetes is demanding for the individual, but experienced barriers can be eased by support from others in the personal sphere, and by professional support from diabetes care. Diabetes care was a crucial resource to nurture the individuals ability and knowledge to manage diabetes, and to facilitate life with diabetes by supplying support, guidance, medical treatment and technical devices tailored to individual needs. The analysis resulted in the overarching theme ‘To live a good life with diabetes’ constituting the two main categories ‘How I feel and how things are going with my diabetes’ and ‘Support from diabetes care in managing diabetes’ including five different categories. Conclusions Common aspects were identified including the experience of living with diabetes and support from diabetes care. These will be used to establish a basis for a tailored PROM for the NDR.

A disease-specific questionnaire for measuring patient-reported outcomes and experiences in the Swedish National Diabetes Register: Development and evaluation of content validity, face validity, and test-retest reliability

OBJECTIVE To describe the development and evaluation of the content and face validity and test-retest reliability of a disease-specific questionnaire that measures patient-reported outcomes and experiences for the Swedish National Diabetes Register for adult patients who have type 1 or type 2 diabetes. METHODS In this methodological study, a questionnaire was developed over four phases using an iterative process. Expert reviews and cognitive interviews were conducted to evaluate content and face validity, and a postal survey was administered to evaluate test-retest reliability. RESULTS The expert reviews and cognitive interviews found the disease-specific questionnaire to be understandable, with relevant content and value for diabetes care. An item-level content validity index ranged from 0.6-1.0 and a scale content validity/average ranged from 0.7-1.0. The fourth version, with 33 items, two main parts and seven dimensions, was answered by 972 adults with type 1 and type 2 diabetes (response rate 61%). Weighted Kappa values ranged from 0.31-0.78 for type 1 diabetes and 0.27-0.74 for type 2 diabetes. CONCLUSIONS This study describes the initial development of a disease-specific questionnaire in conjunction with the NDR. Content and face validity were confirmed and test-retest reliability was satisfactory. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS With the development of this questionnaire, the NDR becomes a clinical tool that contributes to further understanding the perspectives of adult individuals with diabetes.