Does Advoy.com™ help patients with primary immunodeficiency diseases experience that their life situation has improved?

Abstract

Lifelong immunoglobulin therapy for patients with primary immunodeficiency diseases are more often provided at home. We explored the impact of living with a chronic disease, the life situation as well as using Advoy, a new web-based patient diary with messaging function. Twelve adults from Sweden wrote an essay each about their disease and how it is to be an Advoy user. The text was analyzed with directed qualitative content analysis. The respondents stated that they were living on a border; hence their lives were much better after starting their home therapy. Using Advoy made them feel more confident, since the overview and history of their treatment gave them information and understanding about their problems. It was hard to navigate on the Advoy site, and this made some of the respondents frustrated, so they used it only for plain treatment documentation. Improvements are needed in Advoy, in order to enhance self care activities.