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INTRODUCTION: Stigma is a social attribute that links a person to an undesirable characteristic and leads to actions that increase the social distance from that person. This includes different or discriminatory treatment. Stigma is common in healthcare, particularly in people with persistent physical symptoms (PPS) and functional disorders (FD). The aim of this study is to create a new actionable framework to aid understanding of stigmatisation in consultations about PPS/FD and to improve the consultation experiences. METHODS: This framework development used the Best Fit Framework approach to data collected for a scoping review of stigma in functional disorders. The stages included selection of an initial framework from existing conceptual models, mapping quote data from published papers to the framework and an iterative process of revision and re-mapping. The final framework was tested by re-mapping all the quote data to the framework following classification rules. RESULTS: 253 quotes were obtained from the results sections of qualitative studies from a previous scoping review. The framework comprises of prejudice, stereotypes and actions to increase social distance. Stereotype refers to the focus of stigma: this may be the condition, the patient, or their behaviour. Actions that increase social distance include: othering; denial; non-explanation; minimising, norm-breaking; and psychologising. By breaking down stigma into recognisable components, the framework provides a way to understand the difficulties that patients and clinicians face during consultations and a way to develop intervention materials. CONCLUSIONS: This new framework for stigma in clinical consultations for PPS/FDs provides a useful tool for the study of stigma in clinical consultations.
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Encaminhamento e Consulta , Estigma Social , Estereotipagem , Humanos , Distância PsicológicaRESUMO
OBJECTIVE: There is a lack of trustworthy information about Functional Somatic Symptoms (FSS) on the internet. This means integrative bio-psycho-social explanations of FSS and related health advice are not readily available to the public. To explore and address this problem, we carried out the bodysymptoms project, with the aim to build a website which presents current widely accepted explanations for FSS and shows how different explanations are inter-connected. METHODS: Bodysymptoms was set up as a research-in-action project with a diverse range of international stakeholder-participants, combining approaches from patient and public involvement in healthcare with participatory design. 7 participants with lived experience of multi-system functional symptoms took part in the project and measures of meaningful engagement throughout the project were rated highly. This manuscript describes the methodology by which the website was developed. RESULTS: Through iterative cycles we determined the requirements for an interactive explanatory model and co-created a novel online health interactive resource with integrated actionable health advice. The target end user are young adults with persistent physical symptoms, maintained by functional mechanisms. The overall aim is to empower people at risk of developing functional disorders to seek better health outcomes. The website is intended to be used prior to or alongside engagement with healthcare. CONCLUSION: Bringing lived experience and multi-disciplinary perspectives into dialogue through participatory design can harness the power of research to create immediate shared value. This project has resulted in a usable open access website, bodysymptoms.org, which provides education about FSS for patients, healthcare professionals and members of the public looking to understand FSS.
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Internet , Sintomas Inexplicáveis , Humanos , Feminino , Adulto , Masculino , Adulto Jovem , Transtornos SomatoformesRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Persistent Physical Symptoms (PPS) include symptoms such as chronic pain, and syndromes such as chronic fatigue. They are common, but are often inadequately managed, causing distress and higher costs for health care systems. A lack of teaching about PPS has been recognised as a contributing factor to poor management. METHODS: The authors conducted a scoping review of the literature, including all studies published before 31 March 2023. Systematic methods were used to determine what teaching on PPS was taking place for medical undergraduates. Studies were restricted to publications in English and needed to include undergraduate medical students. Teaching about cancer pain was excluded. After descriptive data was extracted, a narrative synthesis was undertaken to analyse qualitative findings. RESULTS: A total of 1116 studies were found, after exclusion, from 3 databases. A further 28 studies were found by searching the grey literature and by citation analysis. After screening for relevance, a total of 57 studies were included in the review. The most commonly taught condition was chronic non-cancer pain, but overall, there was a widespread lack of teaching and learning on PPS. Several factors contributed to this lack including: educators and learners viewing the topic as awkward, learners feeling that there was no science behind the symptoms, and the topic being overlooked in the taught curriculum. The gap between the taught curriculum and learners' experiences in practice was addressed through informal sources and this risked stigmatising attitudes towards sufferers of PPS. CONCLUSION: Faculties need to find ways to integrate more teaching on PPS and address the barriers outlined above. Teaching on chronic non-cancer pain, which is built on a science of symptoms, can be used as an exemplar for teaching on PPS more widely. Any future teaching interventions should be robustly evaluated to ensure improvements for learners and patients.
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Dor Crônica , Currículo , Educação de Graduação em Medicina , Estudantes de Medicina , Humanos , Estudantes de Medicina/psicologia , Síndrome de Fadiga Crônica/diagnósticoRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Whether implicit or explicit, professional judgement is a central component of the many nurse staffing systems implemented in high-income countries to inform workforce planning and staff deployment. Whilst a substantial body of research has evaluated the technical and operational elements of nurse staffing systems, no studies have systematically examined the role of professional judgement and its contribution to decision-making. OBJECTIVE: To explore nurses' use of professional judgement in nurse staffing systems in England and Wales. METHODS: A cross-case comparative design centred on adult in-patient services in three University Health Boards in Wales and three National Health Service Trusts in England. Data generation was undertaken between January 2021 and March 2023 through stakeholder interviews, observations of staffing meetings, and analysis of documents and artefacts. Observations were undertaken in clinical areas but limited to three cases by COVID-19 restrictions. Analysis was informed by translational mobilisation theory. FINDINGS: Two kinds of professional judgement were deployed in the nurse staffing systems: the judgement of clinical nurses and the judgement of senior nurse managers. The research highlighted the reflexive relationship between professional judgement and data, and the circumstances in which organisations placed trust in people and when they placed trust in numbers. Nurses' professional judgement was central to the generation of data, its interpretation and contextualisation. Healthcare organisations relied on the professional judgements of clinical nurses and senior nurse managers in making operational decisions to mitigate risk, where real-world understanding of the status of the organisation was privileged over formal data. Professional judgement had attenuated authority for the purposes of workforce planning, where data was a master actor. Nurses expressed concerns that strategic decision-making prioritised safety and efficiency, and formal measurement systems did not capture important aspects of care quality or staff wellbeing, which made it difficult to articulate their professional judgement. CONCLUSIONS: The implementation of staffing systems is resource intensive. Given limited evidence on which to recommend any specific methodology, the priority for future research is to optimise existing systems. If nurses are to deploy their professional judgement to proactively influence the conditions for care, as well as responding to the challenges of risk mitigation, there is a need for robust systems of nursing measurement aligned with agreed standards of care and a vocabulary through which these judgements can be articulated. TWEETABLE ABSTRACT: Health systems depend on nurses' professional judgement for operational staffing decisions, but data is privileged over professional judgement for workforce planning.
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COVID-19 , Enfermeiras e Enfermeiros , Recursos Humanos de Enfermagem Hospitalar , Adulto , Humanos , Julgamento , Admissão e Escalonamento de Pessoal , Medicina Estatal , País de Gales , Recursos HumanosRESUMO
OBJECTIVE: Engaging patients in treatment for functional somatic symptoms (FSS) relies on a shared understanding of the mechanisms underlying the complaints. Despite this, little is known about the explanatory models used in daily clinical practice. We aim to examine the approaches healthcare professionals use to explain FSS across European healthcare settings. METHODS: This is an exploratory mixed methods study, combining sequential qualitative and quantitative analyses. 3 types of data were collected: a survey of Health-Care Professionals (HCPs) with special interest in FSS from 16 European countries (n = 186), Patient Education Material collected systematically from survey respondents (n = 72) and semi-structured Interviews with HCPs (n = 14). Survey results are summarized descriptively. Qualitative data was thematically coded following template analysis methods. Findings were integrated through mixed-methods triangulation. RESULTS: Five main explanatory models for FSS that are used across treatment settings and diagnostic constructs were represented in the data. The 'Multisystem Stress' Approach explains FSS through physiological stress responses within a bio-psycho-social paradigm. 'Sensitized Alarm' and 'Malfunctioning software' are both approaches derived from the neurosciences. Explanations related to 'Embodied Experience' are often used within integrated psychosomatic therapies. In the person-centred 'Symptoms' approach, HCPs aim for co-constructed, individualized explanations. These approaches, which rely on different models of mind-body-environment are complementary and are used flexibly by skilled HCPs. CONCLUSION: Taken together the explanatory models described might form the basis of a curriculum of medical explanation with the potential to equip clinicians to form more collaborative relationships with patients across healthcare.
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Sintomas Inexplicáveis , Humanos , Pessoal de Saúde/psicologia , Inquéritos e Questionários , Europa (Continente)RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: Arts-based research (ABR) refers to the use of art in the research process to help generate, interpret and/or communicate knowledge. We used ABR principles to adapt a centre-staging method to complement a more traditional qualitative approach to evaluate participants' views on dental service reform. METHODS: We asked five individuals in the dental health sector in the National Health Service in Wales to select objects to depict their views on the current reform process and their ideal reform process. This process took place alongside traditional semi-structured interviews with the participants. RESULTS: There were three marked differences in the centre-staging process as compared to the interviews: (1) there was a greater use of symbolism by the participants, (2) the participants put a greater focus on the process of change and (3) the participants were more likely to reveal the emotions underlying their assessments of the reform process. CONCLUSIONS: The arts-based approach adopted appeared to be highly accessible and has the potential to be used in a wide range of applications.
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Atenção à Saúde , Assistência Odontológica , Medicina Estatal , Humanos , Grupos Focais , Reforma dos Serviços de Saúde , Pesquisa Qualitativa , País de GalesRESUMO
AIMS: Aim of this study is to better understand the role of nurses' professional judgment in nurse staffing systems. DESIGN: Qualitative comparative case study design of nurse staffing systems in England and Wales. METHODS: Data will be collected through a variety of sources: individual interviews, observations of relevant meetings and analysis of key documents. Ethical approval for the study was granted in August 2020 from The Healthcare Research Ethics Committee (SREC reference: REC741). Data generation will be informed by science and technology studies and practice theories. DISCUSSION: Ensuring adequate numbers of nurses are available to care for patients in response to shifting demand is an international policy priority. Emerging evidence on the use of formal workforce planning methodologies across the developed world highlights both the centrality of nurses' professional judgement in nurse staffing methodologies and the urgent need for theoretically informed research to better understand and conceptualise its contribution to decision-making. This study is designed to address this gap in understanding. It takes advantage of nurses' experiences of managing the service and staffing impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and differences in strategic approaches to nurse staffing systems between England and Wales. IMPACT: The research will: make visible the knowledge and skills that underpin professional judgement in nurse staffing decisions and provide a conceptual language with which to articulate this; lay the foundations for evidence-based programmes of nurse education and continuing professional development; furnish the evidence to inform the development of nurse-led decision support tools to augment professional judgement; and generate wider insights into the effectiveness of nurse staffing systems in practice.
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COVID-19 , Enfermeiras e Enfermeiros , Humanos , Pandemias , Admissão e Escalonamento de Pessoal , SARS-CoV-2 , Recursos HumanosRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Shortages of personal protective equipment during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have led to the extended use or reuse of single-use respirators and surgical masks by frontline healthcare workers. The evidence base underpinning such practices warrants examination. OBJECTIVES: To synthesize current guidance and systematic review evidence on extended use, reuse, or reprocessing of single-use surgical masks or filtering face-piece respirators. DATA SOURCES: We used the World Health Organization, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Public Health England websites to identify guidance. We used Medline, PubMed, Epistemonikos, Cochrane Database, and preprint servers for systematic reviews. METHODS: Two reviewers conducted screening and data extraction. The quality of included systematic reviews was appraised using AMSTAR-2. Findings were narratively synthesized. RESULTS: In total, 6 guidance documents were identified. Levels of detail and consistency across documents varied. They included 4 high-quality systematic reviews: 3 focused on reprocessing (decontamination) of N95 respirators and 1 focused on reprocessing of surgical masks. Vaporized hydrogen peroxide and ultraviolet germicidal irradiation were highlighted as the most promising reprocessing methods, but evidence on the relative efficacy and safety of different methods was limited. We found no well-established methods for reprocessing respirators at scale. CONCLUSIONS: Evidence on the impact of extended use and reuse of surgical masks and respirators is limited, and gaps and inconsistencies exist in current guidance. Where extended use or reuse is being practiced, healthcare organizations should ensure that policies and systems are in place to ensure these practices are carried out safely and in line with available guidance.
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COVID-19 , Reutilização de Equipamento/normas , Controle de Infecções/instrumentação , Máscaras/virologia , Respiradores N95/virologia , SARS-CoV-2/isolamento & purificação , COVID-19/epidemiologia , COVID-19/prevenção & controle , Humanos , Controle de Infecções/métodos , Guias de Prática Clínica como Assunto , Gestão de Riscos/métodos , Gestão de Riscos/normasRESUMO
Research engaging qualitatively with clinical practitioners' understanding of, and response to, self-harm has been limited. Self-harm offers a particularly compelling case through which to examine the enduring challenges faced by practitioners in treating patients whose presenting symptoms are not clearly biomedical in nature. In this paper, we present an analysis of 30 General Practitioners' (GPs') accounts of treating patients who had self-harmed. Our analysis demonstrates the complex ways in which GPs seek to make sense of self-harm. Illustrated through three common 'types' of patients (the 'good girl', the 'problem patient' and the 'out of the blue'), we show how GPs grapple with ideas of 'social' and 'psychological' causes of self-harm. We argue that these tensions emerge in different ways according to the social identities of patients, with accounts shaped by local contexts, including access to specialist services, as well as by cultural understandings regarding the legitimacy of self-harming behaviour. We suggest that studying the social life of self-harm in general practice extends a sociological analysis of self-harm more widely, as well as contributing to sociological theorisation on the doctor-patient relationship.
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In 2013, a national inquiry into care failings at a large public hospital in England resulted in major healthcare reforms that included targeting policy aimed at ensuring the adequacy of nurse staffing levels on hospital wards within NHS England. This paper uses a review of publicly available documents to provide a contextual account of the evolution of nurse staffing policy development prior to and following the inquiry. We found that securing safe staffing policy has been impacted by caveats and competing policy, evidence gaps, lack of coordination, and the absence of readily implementable solutions. Consequently, five years on, safe staffing policy for NHS England is described in aspirational terms that ascribes accountability to providers, but fails to adequately address barriers to delivery. Kingdon's 'policy windows' model is used to explain why policy, even when driven by strong public concern and with high inter-sector support, may struggle to gain traction when the conditions necessary for success are not present, and in the face of practical or political constraints. The progress and pitfalls encountered are not unique and the experience of safe staffing policy in England may have lessons for other countries grappling with policy development or implementation in this area.
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Recursos Humanos de Enfermagem Hospitalar/provisão & distribuição , Admissão e Escalonamento de Pessoal/organização & administração , Políticas , Medicina Estatal/organização & administração , Inglaterra , Reforma dos Serviços de Saúde , Hospitais Públicos , HumanosRESUMO
Predicting health outcomes from longitudinal health histories is of central importance to healthcare. Observational healthcare databases such as patient diary databases provide a rich resource for patient-level predictive modeling. In this paper, we propose a Bayesian hierarchical vector autoregressive (VAR) model to predict medical and psychological conditions using multivariate time series data. Compared to the existing patient-specific predictive VAR models, our model demonstrated higher accuracy in predicting future observations in terms of both point and interval estimates due to the pooling effect of the hierarchical model specification. In addition, by adopting an elastic-net prior, our model offers greater interpretability about the associations between variables of interest on both the population level and the patient level, as well as between-patient heterogeneity. We apply the model to two examples: 1) predicting substance use craving, negative affect and tobacco use among college students, and 2) predicting functional somatic symptoms and psychological discomforts.
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Interpretação Estatística de Dados , Modelagem Computacional Específica para o Paciente , Teorema de Bayes , Conjuntos de Dados como Assunto , Humanos , Modelos Logísticos , Prontuários Médicos/estatística & dados numéricosRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Variation in GP referral practice may be a factor contributing to the lower uptake of cardiology specialist services for people living in socioeconomic deprivation. Cardiology referrals were chosen for this study due to higher rates of premature death and emergency admissions resulting from coronary heart disease for patients living in more deprived areas. AIM: To find out how socioeconomic deprivation influences GP referral practice. DESIGN AND SETTING: A qualitative study of GPs working in affluent and deprived areas of one large city in the UK. METHOD: The authors used purposive and snowball sampling to recruit 17 GP participants to interviews and a focus group. Participants were asked to reflect on their own experience of making referrals. The authors used a framework approach to the analysis, with differences in themes for GPs working in least and most deprived areas being highlighted. RESULTS: The authors identified four main themes by which socioeconomic deprivation influenced GP referral practice: identifying problems; making decisions about referral; navigating the healthcare system; and external pressures. Using a published framework of consultation complexity, the authors then examined the data in relation to a fifth theme of complexity. Referrals from areas of high socioeconomic deprivation involved greater complexity in the majority of the domains of this framework. CONCLUSION: Socioeconomic deprivation influences GP referral decisions and navigation of the healthcare system in multiple ways. Referral practice for GPs working in deprived areas is more complex than for their peers working in more affluent areas.
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Cardiologia/estatística & dados numéricos , Doença das Coronárias/diagnóstico , Medicina Geral , Padrões de Prática Médica/estatística & dados numéricos , Encaminhamento e Consulta/estatística & dados numéricos , Atitude do Pessoal de Saúde , Cardiologia/economia , Doença das Coronárias/epidemiologia , Doença das Coronárias/prevenção & controle , Tomada de Decisões , Grupos Focais , Medicina Geral/economia , Medicina Geral/estatística & dados numéricos , Pesquisa sobre Serviços de Saúde , Humanos , Entrevistas como Assunto , Relações Médico-Paciente , Padrões de Prática Médica/economia , Pesquisa Qualitativa , Encaminhamento e Consulta/economia , Carga de Trabalho/economia , Carga de Trabalho/estatística & dados numéricosRESUMO
BACKGROUND: GPs working in areas of high socioeconomic deprivation face particular challenges, and are at increased risk of professional burnout. Understanding how GPs working in such areas perceive professional resilience is important in order to recruit and retain a GP workforce in these areas. AIM: To understand how GPs working in areas of high socioeconomic deprivation consider professional resilience. DESIGN AND SETTING: A qualitative study of GPs practising in deprived areas within one primary care region of England. METHOD: In total, 14 individual interviews and one focus group of eight participants were undertaken, with sampling to data saturation. A framework approach was used for data analysis. RESULTS: Participants described three key themes relating to resilience. First, resilience was seen as involving flexibility and adaptability. This involved making trade-offs in order to keep going, even if this was imperfect. Second, resilience was enacted through teams rather than through individual strength. Third, resilience required the integration of personal and professional values rather than keeping the two separate. This dynamic adaptive view, with an emphasis on the importance of individuals within teams rather than in isolation, contrasts with the discourse of resilience as a personal characteristic, which should be strengthened at the individual level. CONCLUSION: Professional resilience is about more than individual strength. Policies to promote professional resilience, particularly in settings such as areas of high socioeconomic deprivation, must recognise the importance of flexibility, adaptability, working as teams, and successful integration between work and personal values.
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Clínicos Gerais/psicologia , Saúde Ocupacional/estatística & dados numéricos , Áreas de Pobreza , Atenção Primária à Saúde , Resiliência Psicológica , Local de Trabalho/psicologia , Atitude do Pessoal de Saúde , Esgotamento Profissional/epidemiologia , Inglaterra/epidemiologia , Grupos Focais , Humanos , Pesquisa Qualitativa , Medicina EstatalRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Dementia and diabetes mellitus are common long-term conditions that coexist in a large number of older people. People living with dementia and diabetes may be at increased risk of complications such as hypoglycaemic episodes because they are less able to manage their diabetes. OBJECTIVES: To identify the key features or mechanisms of programmes that aim to improve the management of diabetes in people with dementia and to identify areas needing further research. DESIGN: Realist review, using an iterative, stakeholder-driven, four-stage approach. This involved scoping the literature and conducting stakeholder interviews to develop initial programme theories, systematic searches of the evidence to test and develop the theories, and the validation of programme theories with a purposive sample of stakeholders. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-six stakeholders (user/patient representatives, dementia care providers, clinicians specialising in dementia or diabetes and researchers) took part in interviews and 24 participated in a consensus conference. DATA SOURCES: The following databases were searched from 1990 to March 2016: MEDLINE (PubMed), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Scopus, The Cochrane Library (including the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews), Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) database, NHS Economic Evaluation Database, AgeInfo (Centre for Policy on Ageing - UK), Social Care Online, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) portfolio database, NHS Evidence, Google (Google Inc., Mountain View, CA, USA) and Google Scholar (Google Inc., Mountain View, CA, USA). RESULTS: We included 89 papers. Ten papers focused directly on people living with dementia and diabetes, and the rest related to people with dementia or diabetes or other long-term conditions. We identified six context-mechanism-outcome (CMO) configurations that provide an explanatory account of how interventions might work to improve the management of diabetes in people living with dementia. This includes embedding positive attitudes towards people living with dementia, person-centred approaches to care planning, developing skills to provide tailored and flexible care, regular contact, family engagement and usability of assistive devices. A general metamechanism that emerges concerns the synergy between an intervention strategy, the dementia trajectory and social and environmental factors, especially family involvement. A flexible service model for people with dementia and diabetes would enable this synergy in a way that would lead to the improved management of diabetes in people living with dementia. LIMITATIONS: There is little evidence relating to the management of diabetes in people living with dementia, although including a wider literature provided opportunities for transferable learning. The outcomes in our CMOs are largely experiential rather than clinical. This reflects the evidence available. Outcomes such as increased engagement in self-management are potential surrogates for better clinical management of diabetes, but this is not proven. CONCLUSIONS: This review suggests that there is a need to prioritise quality of life, independence and patient and carer priorities over a more biomedical, target-driven approach. Much current research, particularly that specific to people living with dementia and diabetes, identifies deficiencies in, and problems with, current systems. Although we have highlighted the need for personalised care, continuity and family-centred approaches, there is much evidence to suggest that this is not currently happening. Future research on the management of diabetes in older people with complex health needs, including those with dementia, needs to look at how organisational structures and workforce development can be better aligned to the needs of people living with dementia and diabetes. STUDY REGISTRATION: This study is registered as PROSPERO CRD42015020625. FUNDING: The NIHR HTA programme.
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Cuidadores/educação , Cuidadores/psicologia , Demência/complicações , Diabetes Mellitus/terapia , Gerenciamento Clínico , Consenso , Humanos , Entrevistas como Assunto , Assistência Centrada no Paciente , Qualidade de VidaRESUMO
OBJECTIVE: The harmonization of core outcome domains in clinical trials facilitates comparison and pooling of data, and simplifies the preparation and review of research projects and comparison of risks and benefits of treatments. Therefore, we provide recommendations for the core outcome domains that should be considered in clinical trials on the efficacy and effectiveness of interventions for somatic symptom disorder, bodily distress disorder, and functional somatic syndromes. METHODS: The European Network on Somatic Symptom Disorders group of more than 20 experts in the field met twice in Hamburg to discuss issues of assessment and intervention research in somatic symptom disorder, bodily distress disorder, and functional somatic syndromes. The consensus meetings identified core outcome domains that should be considered in clinical trials evaluating treatments for somatic symptom disorder and associated functional somatic syndromes. RESULTS: The following core domains should be considered when defining ascertainment methods in clinical trials: a) classification of somatic symptom disorder/bodily distress disorder, associated functional somatic syndromes, and comorbid mental disorders (using structured clinical interviews), duration of symptoms, medical morbidity, and prior treatments; b) location, intensity, and interference of somatic symptoms; c) associated psychobehavioral features and biological markers; d) illness consequences (quality of life, disability, health care utilization, health care costs; e) global improvement and treatment satisfaction; and f) unwanted negative effects. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed criteria are intended to improve synergies of clinical trials and to facilitate decision making when comparing different treatment approaches. These recommendations should not result in inflexible guidelines, but increase consistency across investigations in this field.
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Ensaios Clínicos como Assunto/normas , Sintomas Inexplicáveis , Avaliação de Resultados em Cuidados de Saúde/normas , Transtornos Psicofisiológicos , Sociedades Médicas/normas , Transtornos Somatoformes , Europa (Continente) , Humanos , Transtornos Psicofisiológicos/classificação , Transtornos Psicofisiológicos/diagnóstico , Transtornos Psicofisiológicos/terapia , Transtornos Somatoformes/classificação , Transtornos Somatoformes/diagnóstico , Transtornos Somatoformes/terapiaRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Worldwide, the prevalences of diabetes and dementia are both increasing, particularly in older people. Rates of diabetes in people with dementia are between 13 and 20 %. Diabetes management and diabetic self-care may be adversely affected by the presence of dementia. There is a need to know what interventions work best in the management of diabetes in people living with dementia (PLWD) in different settings and at different stages of the dementia trajectory. The overall aim is to develop an explanatory account or programme theory about 'what works' in the management of diabetes in people in what context and to identify promising interventions that merit further evaluation. METHODS/DESIGN: This study uses a realist approach including studies on the management of diabetes in older people, medication management, diabetes-related self-care, workforce issues and assessment and treatment. We will use an iterative, stakeholder driven, four-stage approach. Phase 1: development of initial programme theory/ies through a first scoping of the literature and consultation with key stakeholder groups (user/patient representatives, dementia-care providers, clinicians, diabetes and dementia researchers and diabetes specialists). Phase 2: systematic searches of the evidence to test and develop the theories identified in phase 1. Phase 3: validation of programme theory/ies with a purposive sample of participants from phase 1. Phase 4: actionable recommendations for the management of diabetes in PLWD. DISCUSSION: A realist synthesis of the evidence will provide a theoretical framework (i.e. an explanation of how interventions work, for whom, in what context and why) for practice and future research work that articulates the barriers and facilitators to effective management of diabetes in people with dementia. By providing possible explanations for the way in which interventions are thought to work and how change is achieved, it will demonstrate how to tailor an intervention to the setting and patient group. The propositions arising from the review will also inform the design of future intervention studies. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO registration number CRD42015020625.