Primary Healthcare Professionals' Perspectives on Cardiovascular Risk Communication to Persons With Type 2 Diabetes: A Grounded Theory Study.

AIM: To explore how cardiovascular risk communication is constructed, negotiated and enacted in practice to persons with type 2 diabetes.

DESIGN

Qualitative.

METHODS

Individual interviews were conducted with 14 HCPs in primary care. Data were analysed using the constructivist grounded theory method.

RESULTS

The core category, 'Striving to enhance cardiovascular risk awareness in persons with type 2 diabetes while balancing responsibility and uncertainty', captures the challenges in making CVD risk understandable and meaningful for patients. Four categories describe the HCPs' work: Navigating a complex assessment of cardiovascular risk, struggling to communicate cardiovascular risk in a pedagogical way, trying to build a trusting relationship and simultaneously highlighting the disease severity, and experiencing loneliness and requesting organisational changes.

CONCLUSIONS

Healthcare professionals (HCPs) recognised their significant responsibility for cardiovascular risk communication, but simultaneously experienced uncertainty about how to assess patients' individual CVD risk. Diabetes specialist nurses described feelings of professional isolation, limited medical support from physicians and a lack of shared responsibility within the diabetes care team. HCPs also requested sufficient organisational resources.

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PROFESSION: Communicating cardiovascular risk remains difficult. Strengthening the role of HCPs in risk communication and ensuring they adopt a more person-centred approach are essential to improving risk communication in primary healthcare.

IMPACT: To assess cardiovascular risk and reveal patients' understanding, HCPs must go beyond education, build trust and understanding, and balance encouragement with demands.

REPORTING METHOD: COREQ checklist.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: No patient or public contribution.