Table 1 Key themes from the data
Key themes | Sub-themes discussed in the interviews |
|---|---|
Autonomy and control | • Increasing young person’s control in the management of their condition. • Paradoxical reduced autonomy of young people and increased dependence on the clinician. • Opportunity to build a more personal relationship with their clinician more important than increased control. • Loss of clinician autonomy in relation to the timing and the style of the communication with young people; and control of information passing into the public domain. |
Defining the limits of duty of care | • Ambiguity about when the duty of care is established and what is required by that duty. • Different views and ways of dealing with issues around duty of care amongst clinicians: • Establishing rules about access and responsiveness of clinicians to digital communication |
Communication and trust | • DCC as an enabler of a trusting relationship between young people and their clinicians. • Importance to young people of face to face consultation for establishing trust. • Clinician concern regarding completeness of information provided by young people through digital communication. • Different understandings of confidentiality and privacy amongst young people and their clinicians. |