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This dissertation focuses on the mechanisms, monitoring and management of patient and public involvement in hospital quality improvement (QI) interventions. Findings from a literature review generated an initial programme theory (PT) on active patient involvement in healthcare QI interventions (Paper 1). Empirical studies were also undertaken in order to describe what was actually happening in the hospital QI teams and what patients and professionals experience influence their joint involvement (Paper 2), and to compare hospital leaders' and managers' experiences of managing QI interventions involving patients and the public (Paper 3). Finally, it was studied how patient-reported measures stimulate patient involvement in QI interventions in practice (Paper 4). The research had a qualitative design. The approach was descriptive and comparative, and the studies were carried out prospectively. Data were collected in two hospital organisations in Sweden and in one hospital organisation in the Netherlands. Data collection methods were a literature search (Paper 1), interviews and field observations (Paper 2 and 3) and data collection meetings (Paper 4). Altogether, 93 team meetings and meetings between the team leaders and management were attended and a total of 20 days of study visits with different forms of meetings were made. Twelve patients, 12 healthcare professionals and 17 and 8 hospital leaders and managers, respectively, participated in the interviews and data collection meetings. Realist synthesis was used to formulate the initial PT (Paper 1). Constructivist grounded theory was used to analyse and describe what was happening in the QI teams and how it was experienced by the team members (Paper 2). To compare hospital leaders' and managers' different, contextual meanings in Sweden and the Netherlands, the reflexive thematic analysis informed by critical realism was used (Paper 3). To order, manage and map data from 31 examples of local QI interventions associated to patient-reported measures, the framework method was used (Paper 4). The results formulate a generic PT on the mechanisms, monitoring and management perspectives of co-produced QI interventions in hospital services where patients and the public are involved. The PT provides a hypothesis on the various mechanisms at play and outcomes obtained at the different levels of hospital organisations in the process. It is argued that focus should be on experiences, interaction, relationships and dialogue, integration of context, and the matching of hospital resources to patient and public demands and needs. Subsequently, the outcome will be the resources and reasoning interplay resulting in actions and processes, experiences and knowledge, 'product' benefits, emotions, judgements and motivations. Monitoring constitutes an important feedback loop to enable such learnings. The PT aligns the perspectives of the clinical microsystem, improvement science and the service-dominant logic, and has a potential to explain how patient and public involvement in QI interventions might work.

Introduction This realist literature review, regarding active patient involvement in healthcare quality improvement (QI), seeks to identify possible mechanisms that contribute to success or failure. Furthermore, the paper outlines key considerations for organising and supporting patient involvement in healthcare QI efforts. Methods Two literature searches were performed. Altogether, 1,204 articles from a healthcare context were screened, focusing on improvement efforts that involve patients, healthcare professionals and/or managers and leaders. Among these, 107 articles fulfilled the chosen study selection criteria and were further analysed. 18 articles underwent a full realist review. In the realist synthesis, context-mechanism-outcome configurations were articulated as middle-range theories and organised thematically to generate a program theory on how active patient involvement in QI efforts might work. Results The articles exhibited a diversity of patient involvement approaches at different levels of healthcare organisations. To be successful, organisations' support of QI efforts that actively involved patients tailored the QI efforts to their context to achieve the desired outcomes, and involved the relevant microsystem members. Furthermore, it promoted interaction and partnership within the microsystem, and supported the behavioural change that follows. Conclusion This realist synthesis generates a program theory for active patient involvement in QI efforts; active patient involvement can be a tool (resource), if tailored for interaction and partnership (reasoning), that leads to behaviour change (outcome) within healthcare QI efforts. The theory explains essential resource and reasoning mechanisms, and outcomes that together form guidance for healthcare organisations when managing active patient involvement in QI efforts.