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Objective: To investigate cardiac rehabilitation utilisation and effectiveness, factors, needs and barriers associated with non-completion. Design: We used the mixed-methods design with concurrent triangulation of a retrospective cohort and a qualitative study. Setting: Economically disadvantaged areas in rural Australia. Participants: Patients (≥18 years) referred to cardiac rehabilitation through a central referral system and living in rural areas of low socioeconomic status. Main measures: A Cox survival model balanced by inverse probability weighting was used to assess the association between cardiac rehabilitation utilization and 12-month mortality/cardiovascular readmissions. Associations with non-completion were tested by logistic regression. Barriers and needs to cardiac rehabilitation completion were investigated through a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews and focus groups (n = 28). Results: Among 16,159 eligible separations, 44.3% were referred, and 11.2% completed cardiac rehabilitation. Completing programme (HR 0.65; 95%CI 0.57–0.74; p < 0.001) led to a lower risk of cardiovascular readmission/death. Living alone (OR 1.38; 95%CI 1.00–1.89; p = 0.048), having diabetes (OR 1.48; 95%CI 1.02–2.13; p = 0.037), or having depression (OR 1.54; 95%CI 1.14–2.08; p = 0.005), were associated with a higher risk of non-completion whereas enrolment in a telehealth programme was associated with a lower risk of non-completion (OR 0.26; 95%CI 0.18–0.38; p < 0.001). Themes related to logistic issues, social support, transition of care challenges, lack of care integration, and of person-centeredness emerged as barriers to completion. Conclusions: Cardiac rehabilitation completion was low but effective in reducing mortality/cardiovascular readmissions. Understanding and addressing barriers and needs through mixed methods can help tailor cardiac rehabilitation programmes to vulnerable populations and improve completion and outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Chronic conditions and multimorbidity, the presence of two or more chronic conditions, are increasingly common in older adults. Effective management of chronic conditions and multimorbidity in older adults requires a collaborative and person‐centred approach that considers the individual's goals, preferences and priorities. However, ensuring high‐quality personalised care for older adults with multimorbidity can be challenging due to the complexity of their care needs, limited time and a lack of patient preparation to discuss their personal goals and preferences with their healthcare team. Objective: To codesign a communication and goal‐setting tool, My Wellbeing Journal, to support personalised care planning for older adults with chronic conditions and multimorbidity. Design: We drew on an experience‐based codesign approach to develop My Wellbeing Journal. This article reports on the final end‐user feedback, which was collected via an online survey with older adults and their carers. Setting and Participants: Older adults with chronic conditions, multimorbidity and informal carers living in Australia. Personalised care planning was considered in the context of primary care. Results: A total of 88 participants completed the online survey. The survey focused on participants' feedback on the tool in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, satisfaction and errors encountered. This feedback resulted in modifications to My Wellbeing Journal, which can be used during clinical encounters to facilitate communication, goal setting and progress tracking. Discussion and Conclusions: Clinicians and carers can use the tool to guide discussions with older adults about their care planning and help them set realistic goals that are meaningful to them. The findings of this study could be used to inform the development of recommendations for healthcare providers to implement person‐centred, goal‐oriented care for older adults with chronic conditions and multimorbidity. Patient or Public Contribution: Older adults living with chronic conditions and multimorbidity and their carers have contributed to the development of a tool that has the potential to significantly enhance the experience of personalised care planning. Their direct involvement as collaborators has ensured that the tool is optimised to meet the standards of effectiveness and usability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: This review aimed to investigate the effectiveness of nurse-led interventions vs. usual care on hypertension management, lifestyle behaviour, and patients' knowledge of hypertension and associated risk factors. Methods: A systematic review with meta-analysis was conducted following Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) guidelines. MEDLINE (Ovid), EmCare (Ovid), CINAHL (EBSCO), Cochrane library, and ProQuest (Ovid) were searched from inception to 15 February 2022. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) examining the effect of nurse-led interventions on hypertension management were identified. Title and abstract, full text screening, assessment of methodological quality, and data extraction were conducted by two independent reviewers using JBI tools. A statistical meta-analysis was conducted using STATA version 17.0. Results: A total of 37 RCTs and 9731 participants were included. The overall pooled data demonstrated that nurse-led interventions may reduce systolic blood pressure (mean difference −4.66; 95% CI −6.69, −2.64; I2 = 83.32; 31 RCTs; low certainty evidence) and diastolic blood pressure (mean difference −1.91; 95% CI −3.06, −0.76; I2 = 79.35; 29 RCTs; low certainty evidence) compared with usual care. The duration of interventions contributed to the magnitude of blood pressure reduction. Nurse-led interventions had a positive impact on lifestyle behaviour and effectively modified diet and physical activity, but the effect on smoking and alcohol consumption was inconsistent. Conclusion: This review revealed the beneficial effects of nurse-led interventions in hypertension management compared with usual care. Integration of nurse-led interventions in routine hypertension treatment and prevention services could play an important role in alleviating the rising global burden of hypertension. Registration: PROSPERO: CRD42021274900 Graphical Abstract [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Failings in providing continuity of care following an acute event for a chronic disease contribute to care inequities for First Nations Peoples in Australia, Canada, and Aotearoa (New Zealand). Methods: A rapid narrative review, including primary studies published in English from Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, and Cochrane Central, concerning chronic diseases (cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, diabetes, and related complications), was conducted. Barriers and enablers to continuity of care for First Nations Peoples were explored considering an empirical lens from the World Health Organization framework on integrated person-centred health services. Results: Barriers included a need for more community initiatives, health and social care networks, and coaching and peer support. Enabling strategies included care adapted to patients' cultural beliefs and behavioural, personal, and family influences; continued and trusting relationships among providers, patients, and caregivers; and provision of flexible, consistent, adaptable care along the continuum. Discussion: The support and co-creation of care solutions must be a dialogical participatory process adapted to each community. Conclusions: Health and social care should be harmonised with First Nations Peoples' cultural beliefs and family influences. Sustainable strategies require a co-design commitment for well-funded flexible care plans considering coaching and peer support across the lifespan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives: This paper presents an exploratory account of an innovative methodology to record and evaluate fundamental care. Fundamental care is defined as the care required by everyone for survival, health and welfare. Background: Fundamental care has been informed by the development and testing of the Fundamentals of Care Framework, which describes how fundamental care is complex and multidimensional, and consists of three interrelated dimensions and 38 elements. This accords with a broader re‐examination of care provision as part of a complex adaptive system in which existing linear models of cause and effect are inadequate to describe the totality of activity. Design: Informed by graph theory and complexity science, this paper presents a novel methodological innovation. It uses the Fundamentals of Care Framework to create a Matrix to quantify the relationships between different elements within the Framework. Methods: We use a Matrix methodology to process care recipient narratives to generate three outputs: a heat map, a summary table and a network analysis. Conclusions: The three outputs serve to quantify and evaluate fundamental care in a multidimensional manner. They capture different perspectives (care recipients and their families, direct care providers and care managers) to improve care outcomes. The future aim is to advance this exploration into digitalising and operationalising the Matrix in a user‐friendly manner for it to become a real‐time mechanism to evaluate and potentially predict patterns of fundamental care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online peer-to-peer communities provide environments in which people with similar health concerns can interact and exchange information that can support self-care of long-term conditions. However, current theories have not adequately accounted for how self-care support is enacted in online communities. We conducted an observational netnography to identify and analyze posts in a publicly accessible online community (discussion forum boards) designed for older people. A Straussian grounded theory approach was used to examine 659 posts in health-related message boards. Self-care support involved the construction of three interrelated identities: (1) the support seeking self, in which members described problems and requested information; (2) the empathizing self, in which they described similar experiences and offered support; and (3) the influencing self, in which they provided information or advice. Online communities appear to be an important source of peer support and information and may be a cost-effective approach to supplement standard care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]