The association between acne care provision and quality of life: A cross-sectional survey.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: It has been suggested that professional acne care can be effective not only in reducing clinical signs but also in improving quality of life (QOL). This study aims to reach a better understanding of the association between QOL and professional acne care. The study also investigates other factors that might influence QOL such as age, gender, and acne severity. METHODS: Between 2019 and 2020, a cross-sectional survey-based study was conducted among 362 acne patients. Data were collected by the Cardiff Acne Disability Index (CADI) and a Global QOL scale. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and post hoc comparisons were conducted to analyze the association between professional acne care and health-related QOL. RESULTS: No statistically significant differences were found in QOL measured by CADI among patients visiting the four investigated acne caregivers (mean CADI score: dermatologist, 4.49; GPs, 4.42; dermal therapist, 4.07; beautician, 4.20, P = .24). However, the impact of the treatment on the QOL, which was measured by the level of Global QOL improvement before and after care, demonstrated a statistically significant improvement when attending a dermatologist, compared to the care provided by beauticians (Global QOL improvement: dermatologist, 1.50; GP, 1.01; dermal therapist, 1.10; beautician, 0.54, P = .05). Females experienced a more impaired acne-related QOL than males (P = .05), and increased acne severity was associated with a more impaired QOL (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: This study delineated factors that influence QOL in acne patients. As the QOL was not associated with the type of caregiver, the greatest QOL improvement before and after care was achieved after medical treatment by the dermatologist. Females and individuals dealing with more severe types of acne experienced a more impaired acne-related QOL. It is recommended to take these factors into account in acne management to optimize professional treatment in line with patient needs.

Exploring patient journeys through acne healthcare: a patient perspective.

BACKGROUND: Despite the large availability of caregivers, there are no standardized care pathways for patients with acne. This increases the risk of ineffective care and unnecessary medicalizing. To better understand how to provide effective, efficient, and patient-satisfying care, it is necessary to gain insights into the patient journey through acne healthcare services. OBJECTIVE: To explore the patient journeys, assessed by a series of consecutive steps through acne healthcare. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among Dutch individuals with acne. RESULTS: A total of 371 respondents completed the questionnaire. Data revealed 58 different pathways through acne healthcare services. Patient with severe acne had a stronger tendency to seek professional care than those with mild acne (p< .05). The highest proportion of clinically relevant improvement was found in patients treated by dermatologists, compared to respondents treated by beauticians, p = .023 and dermal therapists, p = .018. CONCLUSIONS: Mapping the patient journeys contributed to a better understanding of the gap between professional guidelines and the experiences of patients. Identifying these areas of care implies that there is potential to bring acne care services more in line with the patients' needs. Further research is recommended; for example by comparing the clinical treatment outcomes of multiple sequences of caregivers.

They promised this ten years ago. Effects of diabetes news characteristics on patients' perceptions and attitudes towards medical innovations and therapy adherence.

Patients have ever-increasing access to web-based news about hopeful scientific developments that may or may not cure them in the future. Science communication experts agree that the quality of news provision is not always guaranteed. However, literature does not clarify in what way users are actually affected by typical news characteristics such as the news object (described developmental phase of an innovation), the news source (degree of authority), and the news style (degree of language intensification). An online vignette experiment (N = 259) investigated causal relationships between characteristics of news about diabetes innovations and patients' perceptions of future success, their interest in the innovation, and attitudes regarding current therapy adherence. Findings show that descriptions of success in mice led to higher estimations of future success chances than earlier and later developmental phases. Furthermore, news from a nonauthoritative source led to an increased interest in the innovation, and a more negative attitude towards current lifestyle advice. Lastly, the intensification of the language used in news messages showed slight adverse effects on the readers' attitude. These findings, combined with their small effect sizes, support the optimistic view that diabetes patients are generally critical assessors of health news and that future research on this topic should focus on affected fragile subgroups.

Associations Between Characteristics of Web-Based Diabetes News and Readers' Sentiments: Observational Study in the Netherlands.

BACKGROUND: Although experts agree that Web-based health information often contains exaggeration and misrepresentation of science, it is not yet known how this information affects the readers' sentiments. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate whether specific aspects of Web-based diabetes research news are associated with positive or negative sentiments in readers. METHODS: A retrospective observational study of the comments on diabetes research news posted on Facebook pages was conducted as a function of the innovations' developmental phase, the intended treatment effect, and the use of strong language to intensify the news messages (superlatives). Data for the investigation were drawn from the diabetes research news posted between January 2014 and January 2018 on the two largest Dutch Facebook pages on diabetes and the corresponding reader comments. By manually coding these Facebook user comments, three binary outcome variables were created, reflecting the presence of a positive sentiment, the presence of a negative sentiment, and the presence of a statement expressing hopefulness. RESULTS: Facebook users made a total of 3710 comments on 173 diabetes research news posts that were eligible for further analysis. Facebook user comments on posts about diabetes prevention (odds ratio [OR] 0.55, 95% CI 0.37-0.84), improved blood glucose regulation (OR 0.68, 95% CI 0.56-0.84), and symptom relief (OR 0.31, 95% CI 0.21-0.44) were associated with less positive sentiments as compared with potential diabetes cures. Furthermore, comments on innovations supported by preclinical evidence in animals were associated with more positive sentiments (OR 1.46, 95% CI 1.07-1.99) and statements expressing hope (OR 1.47, 95% CI 1.01-2.14), when compared with innovations that have evidence from large human trials. This study found no evidence for the associations between language intensification of the news posts and the readers' sentiments. CONCLUSIONS: Our finding that the attitudes toward diabetes research news on Facebook are most positive when clinical efficacy is not (or not yet) proven in large patient trials suggests that news authors and editors, as well as medical professionals, must exercise caution when acting as a conduit for diabetes research news.