How digital cameras can help improve rural health

A small study conducted in Canada suggests giving patients who live in rural areas digital cameras to document their healthcare experiences can provide physicians with additional insight into what is working and what isn't.

The study, published in the journal Chronic Illness, equipped 10 older adults who had atrial fibrillation with a digital camera for six months.  

The patients were tasked with keeping a personal journey log to track healthcare interactions and were asked to submit daily photographs of their journey. Researchers conducted face-to-face and telephone interviews with the adults throughout the study period.

The researchers found the photos helped indicate when patients' journeys could be categorized as stable, chronically unstable or acute crisis better than narrative accounts.

Patients who were stable and asymptomatic depicted their journey through photographs as one of wellness and a variety of social activities and outings, according to the study. Those with unstable AF or in AF-related crises instead featured their illness more prominently in their photographs. For example, a patient who had an emergency AF event during a mudslide photographed his five-day journey to get a pacemaker through ambulances, hospitals and a variety of providers.

The photos also offered a glimpse into the environments patients spent their time, from their homes to their communities. They also showed what types of formal and informal support patients had access to.

"The use of photographs illuminated aspects of the health journeys of older adults with AF that would otherwise have remained invisible," the authors concluded. "Photo-journey was used to literally see the experiences of rural older adults living with AF over a period of time in ways that words alone could not achieve."

 

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