ORCID

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Introduction Many people with long-term conditions such as pain and arthritis struggle with their health and well-being. To support better self-management, a new peer-delivered coaching intervention (Health Connect Coaching) was set up at a National Health Service integrated care organisation in Southwest England. Based on principles of personalised care and supported goal setting, the one-to-one coaching programme, targeting patients with low activation, delivered coaching sessions in a step-down approach over 6 months. A randomised controlled feasibility trial (fRCT) of Health Connect Coaching was conducted to inform the design of a definitive randomised controlled trial. This article reports the embedded qualitative component of the fRCT, describing the experiences of coaches, peers and staff of implementing and participating in the intervention and trial that ultimately struggled to recruit sufficient peers. Methods Semi-structured online interviews were conducted with coaches (n=16) and peers (n=6), and informal discussions held with staff (n=7). Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim, and summaries of informal discussions were made. Data were analysed using thematic framework analysis. Results Four themes were identified from the interview and discussion data: (1) motivation for participation, (2) balance, (3) flexibility and (4) connection and building relationships. Conclusion One-to-one peer coaching demonstrates potential as an intervention to enable people to better manage their chronic health condition. However, in people with low activation, programmes and effectiveness studies need to pay close attention in their design to the motivation of peers, flexible delivery models that enable connection but can accommodate fluctuating needs and facilitating links between coaching services and clinical teams.

Publication Date

2025-11-28

Publication Title

BMJ Open

Volume

15

Issue

11

ISSN

2044-6055

Acceptance Date

2025-10-23

Deposit Date

2026-10-06

Funding

This work was supported by Torbay Medical Research Fund grant number project 137. The funder had no role in trial design, conduct, data analyses and interpretation, manuscript writing or dissemination of results.

Keywords

Chronic Pain, Feasibility Studies, Multiple sclerosis, Patient-Centered Care, Rheumatology, Self-Management

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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