Organizational strategies in promoting person-centered primary care: A participatory concept mapping study

Despite notable advancements, person-centered implementation is still propelled at a service level. This study aims to empirically determine organizational actions to achieve a person-centered culture through conceptual mapping of essential strategies. A participatory, multi-staged, group concept-mapping approach was employed. Mid and high-level healthcare managers responsible for managing healthcare delivery within the Malaysian Ministry of Health were recruited. In two separate meetings, 12 managers provided a set of related concepts and strategies, while 17 rated the importance and feasibility of implementation strategies. Cluster labels generated from the multidimensional scaling and hierarchical clsuter analysis were: multidisciplinary team, training and education, service user empowerment and quality assurance. The rating of statements created go-zone maps to determine the relative importance and feasibility of each person-centered strategy. Extending professional activities that cover a comprehensive spectrum of services and training healthcare providers on person-centered competency were rated the most important and feasible strategies. Nevertheless, these strategies must be balanced with additional resources to avoid the increasing workload to healthcare providers juggling many different tasks. In conclusion, the participatory evaluation allowed a better understanding of stakeholder-perceived priorities in developing short and long-term strategic plans for person-centered transformational practice and culture development.