Persons' various experiences of learning processes in patient education for osteoarthritis, a qualitative phenomenographic approach

Background: Patient education (PE) is a core treatment of osteoarthritis (OA) with the aim to increase persons' knowledge, self-efficacy, and empowerment. Objective: To describe person's various experiences of learning processes in PE for OA. Design: Phenomenography. Method: Semi-structured interviews were performed with the same persons, pre- (11) and post- (9) education. Results: Various experiences on learning processes were found and were described in an outcome space. Achieving knowledge describes self-regulated learning and strongly relates to Control, which describes a high order cognitive learning skill, and minor to Confirm, which describes a cognitive learning skill based on recognition and application. Receiving knowledge describes the expectancy of learning regulated from the educator and strongly relates to Comply, which describes a low-order cognitive learning skill, and minor to Confirm. Conclusion: Different experiences of motivation and learning impact on persons' learning processes which, in turn, influence the persons' capability to accomplish self-efficacy and empowerment. The outcome space may serve as a basis for discussions between healthcare educators involved in PE to better understand what learning implies and to develop PE further.