Older (65+) patients’ use of e-mail consultations: A Danish qualitative study using a Foucauldian framework

In Denmark, e-mail consultations (e-cons) are now supplementing conventional consultations with doctors and raising questions related to self-governing technology from the patient perspective. Interestingly, old patients are the most frequent users of this kind of consultation. This article examines how e-cons affect old people’s relationships with and perceptions of their general practitioners (GPs) regarding trust, self-governance and indirect/direct power. This qualitative study is based on interviews with twenty patients between 66 and 83 years old. Applying a thematic analysis in which four salient themes were identified, the study demonstrates that the patients perceive the GP as powerful, knowledgeable and busy; this corresponds with the power relationship between disciplinary institutions and individuals. At the same time, many patients use e-cons as a technology of self-governance, thereby taking responsibility for their own health while still being able to contact the clinic. In this way, patients achieve the potential for self-management, while clinics maintain their institutional power.