Exploring Patient-Generated Annotations to Digital Clinical Symptom Measures for Patient-Centered Communication

DOI

Patients' self-reports are crucial for effective care management of clinical conditions involving subjective symptoms that impact individuals' daily lives. While patients often value the ability to bring in different forms of self-report data to convey their lived experiences, they often face challenges in making their data practically usable in clinical settings. To better center patient needs in communicating illness experiences in clinical settings, we explore the idea of patient annotations to digital clinical self-report measures, specifically in the context of discontinuing antidepressants. Through interviews with 20 patients, we found that participants perceived annotations to digital clinical measures as a means to enrich self-report symptom experiences and enhance patient-centered communication. However, concerns were raised regarding potential interruptions in the professional relationship with providers and the need to account for the sensitivity and complexity of mental health contexts. We discuss opportunities for annotations to promote patient-centered communication by balancing patient-centric communication with clinical practicality and incorporating customization support for patients' communication needs.