Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37604699›Full record

ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2023

How patients in general practice voice and value their gut feelings about health: a qualitative interview study.

Erik Stolper, Ulricke M Schuck, Antoinet Hoekman, Elena Shvarts, Ma Loes van Bokhoven, Geert J Dinant, Paul Van Royen, Margje Wj van de Wiel

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Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

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1citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Erik StolperCAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, the Netherlands; Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Department of Family Medicine and Population Health, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0001-8854-3269
Ulricke M SchuckCAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Antoinet HoekmanDepartment of Work and Social Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Elena ShvartsFaculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Department of Family Medicine and Population Health, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Ma Loes van BokhovenCAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, the Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0002-4110-0978
Geert J DinantCAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, the Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0001-7411-8325
Paul Van RoyenFaculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Department of Family Medicine and Population Health, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0002-9554-1680
Margje Wj van de WielDepartment of Work and Social Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0002-0785-7205

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundGPs consider their gut feelings a valuable tool in clinical reasoning. Research suggests patients' gut feelings may be a useful contribution to that process. Describing these feelings more precisely could improve primary care professionals' (PCPs) recognition of patients' gut feelings and insight into the underlying reasons. These descriptions would also enable a thorough examination of the validity of patients' gut feelings and their contribution to professionals' clinical reasoning.

aimTo gather the words and phrases that patients or their relatives use to share their gut feelings with primary care professionals and what they convey and imply. DESIGN AND

settingQualitative study of Dutch and Belgian patients visiting an out-of-hours GP service or a GP's office.

methodFace-to-face semi-structured interviews were carried out with 47 patients. Interviews were coded using a descriptive content analysis in an iterative process until data sufficiency.

resultsPatients or their relatives expressed their gut feelings by using words relating to trusting or not trusting the situation, or to changes in normal patterns. Their gut feelings are most often felt as a sense of alarm. In general, patients experiencing a sense of alarm, particularly mothers of sick children, were convinced that something was wrong and had often learned to trust their gut feeling. A gut feeling was the main reason to contact a PCP. Patients generally felt that their gut feelings were taken seriously.

conclusionThe findings of this study provide an insight into how patients and relatives may express their gut feelings about their own or their relative's health and how they share these feelings with healthcare professionals. This may help clinicians improve their recognition of patients' gut feelings, being particularly alert to a patient or relative using phrases that relate to feelings of not trusting a situation, things seeming wrong or different from normal, and experiencing a sense of alarm. Further research should be carried out into the validity of patients' gut feelings.

Indexed as

Family PracticeGeneral PracticeChildEmotionsEthnicityHumansQualitative Researchclinical reasoningintuition of patientsmothers’ instinctpatients’ languageprimary carequalitative research

Identifiers

PMID37604699
PMCPMC10471142

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.