The changing nature of chronic care and coproduction of care between primary care professionals and patients with COPD and their informal caregivers

The aim of this study was to investigate whether care delivery in accordance with a care model is associated with co-productive relationships between professionals and COPD patients and their informal caregivers. A co-productive relationship refers to productive patient-professional interaction or shared decision making. This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2014 among 411 patients (out of 981) enrolled in the Dutch COPD care program Kennemer Lucht and 62 professionals treating them (out of 97). Kennemer Lucht COPD involved multicomponent interventions within all six dimensions of the chronic care model (organizational support, community, self-management, decision support, delivery system design, and information and communications technology) to improve the quality of care for patients with COPD. This approach was expected to improve relational coproduction of care between professionals and patients with COPD and their informal caregivers. Results show clearly that the perceived quality of chronic care delivery is related significantly to productive interaction/relational coproduction of care. The strength of the relationship between perceptions of quality of chronic care and relational coproduction among patients is strong (r=0.5; P≤0.001) and among professionals moderate (r=0.4; P≤0.001 relational coproduction with patients and informal caregivers). Furthermore, patients' perceptions of the quality of chronic care were associated with the existence of productive interaction with health care professionals (β=0.7; P≤0.001). The changing nature of chronic care is associated with coproduction of care, leading to the development of more productive relationships between primary care professionals and COPD patients and their informal caregivers. Further research is necessary to determine how best to sustain these developments.