Elsevier

Journal of Biomedical Informatics

Volume 56, August 2015, Pages 406-417
Journal of Biomedical Informatics

Adopting the sensemaking perspective for chronic disease self-management

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbi.2015.06.006Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Highlights

  • Health self-monitoring technologies call for new theories of health behaviors.

  • The sensemaking perspective is adopted to chronic disease self-management.

  • We conduct meta-synthesis of qualitative studies of diabetes self-management.

  • The meta-synthesis provides ample empirical support for the framework.

  • We draw implications for the design of informatics interventions.

Abstract

Background

Self-monitoring is an integral component of many chronic diseases; however few theoretical frameworks address how individuals understand self-monitoring data and use it to guide self-management.

Purpose

To articulate a theoretical framework of sensemaking in diabetes self-management that integrates existing scholarship with empirical data.

Methods

The proposed framework is grounded in theories of sensemaking adopted from organizational behavior, education, and human–computer interaction. To empirically validate the framework the researchers reviewed and analyzed reports on qualitative studies of diabetes self-management practices published in peer-reviewed journals from 2000 to 2015.

Results

The proposed framework distinguishes between sensemaking and habitual modes of self-management and identifies three essential sensemaking activities: perception of new information related to health and wellness, development of inferences that inform selection of actions, and carrying out daily activities in response to new information. The analysis of qualitative findings from 50 published reports provided ample empirical evidence for the proposed framework; however, it also identified a number of barriers to engaging in sensemaking in diabetes self-management.

Conclusions

The proposed framework suggests new directions for research in diabetes self-management and for design of new informatics interventions for data-driven self-management.

Keywords

Chronic disease
Self-care
Framework
Diabetes

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