Katherine E Hunker, Melanie Altas, Kaitlyn M Goldsmith, Janine E Farrell, Katrina N Bouchard
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Healthcare providers often lack awareness, knowledge, and confidence in managing vulvodynia, which can lead to difficulties with diagnosis and treatment for individuals with the condition.
Objective: To develop and test an educational online toolkit tailored to supporting community-based primary care providers with diagnosis, treatment, and patient support for vulvodynia.
Methods: A sample of 19 community-based family physicians completed online surveys before and after testing the Vulvodynia Primary Care Toolkit (the toolkit hereafter) in their practice for 6 months. Nine physicians also completed a semi-structured interview to describe their experiences using the toolkit.
Results: The toolkit was adopted into clinical care, being used an average of 4.1 times per physician (SD = 2.7) during the test period. The toolkit demonstrated high acceptability, as evidenced by a high level of reported satisfaction with the toolkit and the amount of information it contained. The toolkit increased self-reported knowledge and confidence in diagnosing (P = .003), treating (P < .001), and supporting (P < .001) patients with vulvodynia. Through reflexive thematic analysis, we generated five themes from interview data that represented physicians' experiences: (i) There are facilitators and barriers to toolkit use in practice, (ii) the toolkit is valued by family physicians, (iii) the toolkit is educational, (iv) the toolkit is empowering, and (v) the toolkit improves vulvodynia management and referrals.
Conclusion: An online educational toolkit tailored to community-based primary care settings supports the management of patients with vulvodynia by family physicians. Our findings lay the foundation for the upscaling of this tool.
期刊介绍:
Family Practice is an international journal aimed at practitioners, teachers, and researchers in the fields of family medicine, general practice, and primary care in both developed and developing countries.
Family Practice offers its readership an international view of the problems and preoccupations in the field, while providing a medium of instruction and exploration.
The journal''s range and content covers such areas as health care delivery, epidemiology, public health, and clinical case studies. The journal aims to be interdisciplinary and contributions from other disciplines of medicine and social science are always welcomed.