Visualising, navigating and making time: The use of a digital solution in treatment and rehabilitation from low back pain

TY - JOUR

T1 - Visualising, navigating and making time

T2 - The use of a digital solution in treatment and rehabilitation from low back pain

AU - Christiansen, Charlotte Ettrup

AU - Hoybye, Mette Terp

AU - Grøn, Ronja Rosenberg

AU - Rossen, Camilla

PY - 2024/11

Y1 - 2024/11

N2 - Illness trajectories are particularly characterised by the temporal dimension of human existence. In the area of low back pain, patients often have challenging temporal experiences such as unproductive waiting time and fragmented, repetitive consultations over many years. This study seeks to investigate relationships between digital technologies, temporal agency, and illness, through describing how users experienced a new digital solution, BackTrace, targeting patients with low back pain. The study builds on six months of ethnographic fieldwork, including semi-structured interviews, participant observation and a workshop. The study shows how the introduction of the digital solution could facilitate new possibilities of temporal actions for individuals living with and receiving care for low back pain. For many research participants, the use of BackTrace facilitated a useful visualisation of their past and present low back pain state; BackTrace could assist participants in navigating different external temporal demands; and it allocated time devoted to managing their back pain in everyday life and in consultations with health professionals. The study discusses how temporality can be a useful analytical entrance point to operationalise and explore the often-desired goal of empowerment in patient pathways.

AB - Illness trajectories are particularly characterised by the temporal dimension of human existence. In the area of low back pain, patients often have challenging temporal experiences such as unproductive waiting time and fragmented, repetitive consultations over many years. This study seeks to investigate relationships between digital technologies, temporal agency, and illness, through describing how users experienced a new digital solution, BackTrace, targeting patients with low back pain. The study builds on six months of ethnographic fieldwork, including semi-structured interviews, participant observation and a workshop. The study shows how the introduction of the digital solution could facilitate new possibilities of temporal actions for individuals living with and receiving care for low back pain. For many research participants, the use of BackTrace facilitated a useful visualisation of their past and present low back pain state; BackTrace could assist participants in navigating different external temporal demands; and it allocated time devoted to managing their back pain in everyday life and in consultations with health professionals. The study discusses how temporality can be a useful analytical entrance point to operationalise and explore the often-desired goal of empowerment in patient pathways.

KW - chronic illness and disability

KW - ethnography

KW - experiencing illness and narratives

KW - patient-physician relationship

KW - technology in healthcare

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85178180917&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/13634593231211496

DO - 10.1177/13634593231211496

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 38031251

AN - SCOPUS:85178180917

SN - 1363-4593

VL - 28

SP - 877

EP - 896

JO - Health

JF - Health

IS - 6

ER -