Supporting collaborative goal-setting for hospitalized adolescent patients

Abstract

Collaborative goal-setting is an effective way to encourage patient engagement and facilitate patient-provider communication. However, few studies have explored how hospitalized patients understand and use collaborative goal-setting to communicate with their care teams. Even less is known for how adolescent patients perceive collaborative goal-setting. This paper presents a technology probe study aiming to explore how adolescent patients perceive and use collaborative goal-setting during hospitalization. We conducted this study with 4 patient families and 3 clinicians. We discussed the design process of the probe application, which featured 1) goal management based on levels of abstraction and timeline and 2) discussion board to help patients speak-up for their preferences. We found that adolescent patients use goal-setting as 1) a self-reflection process, 2) a way to reveal different perspectives between them and their caregivers and to grow independence, and 3) a tool to facilitate collaboration with their care teams by giving them more control over patient-provider communication. Our contribution provides insights into how to design informatics tools to promote adolescents to participate in their care.