Qualitative outcome assessment and research on chronic disease management in general practice. Highlights from a keynote lecture, EGPRN May 2011, Nice

At its 2011 conference in Nice, France, the European General Practice Research Network (EGPRN), considered the issue of Relevant Outcome Measures in General Practice Research into Chronic Diseases. This paper, which is adapted from a keynote lecture given during that conference, considers the role of qualitative outcome assessments in research. Such assessments have a great deal in common with the patient-centred approach of general practice as they can capture the overall state of a patient rather than capturing only certain aspects. Research suggests that patients can be categorized, based on qualitative outcome assessment, and over time might change category. This approach to assessment brings to our attention alternative ways of considering the future: future as currently being made or future as predictable, at least to some extent. Although general practice needs the evidence from research that predicts the future, it also needs to engage in research that seeks to understand patients as they make their future, and to understand the impact of clinical interventions on this process.