Patient health locus of control: the design of information systems for patient-provider interactions

ABSTRACT

Patient locus of control (LOC) is a strong determinant of health outcomes, yet healthcare systems rarely use patient LOC to devise treatment plans. Our clinical research applies action design research methods to design and evaluate healthcare information systems to improve paths and outcomes of patient care. Socio-technical synergies between the interior (technical) and exterior (socio) designs support effective human-computer interfaces and interactions. Rigorous focus group evaluations of the systems for capturing LOC information and using that information in treatment plans are performed and system refinements are implemented. The practitioner organisation has future plans for full implementation of the designed systems.

KEYWORDS:

• Healthcare information systems
• locus of control
• action design research
• clinical research

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/0960085X.2022.2088416