Nurse Practitioners' Self-Efficacy and Behavior in Supporting Self-Management of Patients With a Progressive, Life-Threatening Illness and Their Relatives: A Nationwide, Cross-Sectional Online Survey.

This study aimed at investigating nurse practitioners' self-efficacy and behavior in supporting self-management of patients with a progressive, life-threatening illness and their relatives. We adapted an existing validated instrument for this purpose, amongst other things by adding a seventh subscale "attention for relatives," and administered it in a nationwide, cross-sectional online survey among Dutch nurse practitioners. We analyzed associations between self-reported self-efficacy and behavior using Pearson correlations and paired sample t tests. Associations between self-efficacy and behavior with nurse practitioners' characteristics were examined using linear regression models. Most nurse practitioners (n = 327; 26% complete responses) were women (93%). Subscale and total scores for nurse practitioners' self-efficacy were moderately positively correlated with those for their behavior in self-management support. Subscale and total scores were statistically significantly higher for their self-efficacy than for their behavior. Increased work experience with patients with a progressive, life-threatening illness was associated with higher scores on self-efficacy and behavior in self-management support. We conclude that nurse practitioners are confident in their ability to support self-management; yet, they do not always use these competencies in practice.

Profiles of family caregivers of patients at the end of life at home: a Q-methodological study into family caregiver' support needs.

BACKGROUND: Family caregivers of patients at the end of life often experience care-related burden. To prevent caregiver burden and to enhance the capacity to provide care it is important to have insight in their support needs. The purpose of this study was to identify profiles of family caregivers who provide care to patients at the end of life at home. METHODS: A Q-methodological study was conducted in which family caregivers ranked 40 statements on support needs and experiences with caregiving. Thereafter they explained their ranking in an interview. By-person factor analysis was used to analyse the rankings and qualitative data was used to support the choice of profiles. A set of 41 family caregivers with a variety on background characteristics who currently or recently provided care for someone at the end of life at home were included. RESULTS: Four distinct profiles were identified; profile (1) those who want appreciation and an assigned contact person; profile (2) was bipolar. The positive pole (2+) comprised those who have supportive relationships and the negative pole (2-) those who wish for supportive relationships; profile (3) those who want information and practical support, and profile (4) those who need time off. The profiles reflect different support needs and experiences with caregiving. CONCLUSIONS: Family caregivers of patients at the end of life have varying support needs and one size does not fit all. The profiles are relevant for healthcare professionals and volunteers in palliative care as they provide an overview of the main support needs among family caregivers of patients near the end of life. This knowledge could help healthcare professionals giving support.

Perspectives of Dutch Physiotherapists on Self-Management Support: A Q-Methodology Study.

Self-management support programs are reported to have positive effects on the health and care of people with physical disabilities. It is unclear how physiotherapists (PTs) view self-management support. A cross-sectional study with mixed-methods design using Q-methodology was conducted to determine the perspectives of Dutch PTs on self-management support. PTs (n = 39) rank-ordered 37 validated statements about self-management support from "most disagree (-3)" to "most agree (+3)." Differences in perspectives on self-management support were explored in a by-person centroid factor analysis on the basis of the explained variance (R2). After having sorted the statements, PTs explained their ranking of -3 and +3 statements in semi-structured interviews. All PTs recognized self-management support as intrinsic part of physiotherapy practice. Nevertheless, four particular perspectives could be identified: (1) the "externally driven educator" (R2 = 14%), (2) "internally driven educator" (R2 = 9%), (3) "client-centered coach" (R2 = 13%), and (4) "client-initiated coach" perspective (R2 = 15%). Each perspective reflects particular goals and perceptions of self-management support. Differences were identified with respect to the PTs' role perception (educating or coaching), drive (external or internal), and collaboration with the patient (as partner or not). The identified perspectives can be used in the physiotherapy education curriculum to create awareness about the various ways of practicing self-management support and the skills needed to be able to tailor support to patient needs and to switch between perspectives.

Self-Management Support in Patients With Incurable Cancer: How Confident Are Nurses?

OBJECTIVES: To explore how nurses perceive their self-efficacy and performance in supporting self-management among patients with incurable cancer, and whether these perceptions differ between community and hospital nurses. SAMPLE & SETTING: 222 hospital nurses (n = 94) and community nurses (n = 128) working with adult patients with incurable cancer. METHODS & VARIABLES: An online survey included the Self-Efficacy and Performance Into Self-Management Support instrument. Possible differences in age, gender, work setting, and additional training in oncology between groups were explored. RESULTS: Nurses felt confident about their self-efficacy, particularly in assessing patients' knowledge and beliefs and in advising about their disease and health status. Nurses felt less confident in their performance, particularly in the use of technology (arranging follow-up care), but also in agreeing on collaborative goals and assisting patients in achieving these goals. Compared to hospital nurses, community nurses reported significantly higher scores on self-efficacy and performance. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING: More effort is needed to increase nurses' confidence in providing self-management support, with a focus on arranging follow-up care with the use of technology and on collaborating with patients in setting and achieving goals.

Teaching self-management support in Dutch Bachelor of Nursing education: A mixed methods study of the curriculum.

BACKGROUND: Nurses are expected to support people to self-manage. Student nurses therefore need to master competencies that include the assessment of peoples' needs and preferences, and shared decision-making, whilst respecting and enhancing peoples' autonomy. Adapting nurse education programmes to meet this goal requires insight into the practice of teaching self-management support. In order to reveal this practice, one can distinguish between the intended, the taught, and the received curriculum. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to explore how Dutch Bachelor of Nursing students are educated to support peoples' self-management in clinical practice. DESIGN: Mixed methods. METHODS AND PARTICIPANTS: Focus group meetings with 30 lecturers, and qualitative semi-structured interviews with four coordinators and four (associate) professors of four Dutch schools for Bachelor of Nursing. Syllabuses were screened for learning objectives related to self-management. A survey measuring self-efficacy and behaviour regarding self-management support was distributed among 444 final-year students of these schools, resulting in 238 valid responses (response rate 53.6%). RESULTS: Much attention is paid in the curriculum to assessment of people's preferences and healthcare education but less attention is given to teaching the arrangement of follow-up care. The study further reveals that students have problems transferring theory into practice, and that they experience conflicting values between their nurse education and internships. CONCLUSIONS: Currently, students are taught to provide people with self-management support by learning about theoretical models, developing communication skills, and reflecting on their internships. This approach seems inadequate to prepare students for this task in daily practice. A shared view on self-management support based on authentic situations, having role models at university and on internships and empowering students may enable them to better support people to self-manage.

A realist review: what do nurse-led self-management interventions achieve for outpatients with a chronic condition?

AIM: The aim of this study was to examine how nurse-led interventions that support self-management of outpatients with chronic conditions work and in what contexts they work successfully. BACKGROUND: Self-management could be directed at goals such as quality of life, adherence or patients' empowerment. Self-management support is an increasingly important task of nurses. Many nurse-led interventions have been developed but it is not clear how these actually help improve patients' self-management capabilities. DESIGN: Realist review. DATA SOURCES: Primary research studies on self-management support interventions conducted by nurses from January 2000 until March 2015 were retrieved from all relevant databases. The studies had a before-after design and used qualitative and quantitative methods. REVIEW METHODS: For each study, we described how the intervention was supposed to improve self-management and compared this with the empirical evidence. Next, we described the context-mechanism-outcome strings for each separate study, explored patterns and integrated the findings. RESULTS: Thirty-eight papers were included, evaluating 35 interventions concerning a diversity of conditions. Seven different context-mechanism-outcome strings were identified. Interventions focusing on patients' intrinsic processes were most successful. Least successful were interventions only providing education aimed at patient behaviour change. Various contexts can influence the success of the interventions: involvement of relatives, target group (i.e. chronic condition, motivation, being recently diagnosed or not), involvement of fellow patients and intervention group homogeneity or heterogeneity. CONCLUSION: Successful interventions focus on patients' intrinsic processes (i.e. motivation or self-efficacy). This would guide nurses to decide what self-management support intervention they can best use in their specific setting and patient group.

What factors influence nurses' behavior in supporting patient self-management? An explorative questionnaire study.

BACKGROUND: A major challenge for nurses in hospital care is supporting chronically ill patients in self-managing their chronic condition. Self-management support requires a broad range of competencies and is often regarded as difficult to implement in daily practice. So far, we have no insight in nurses' behavior in daily practice with regard to self-management support and what factors may influence their behavior. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this survey was to explore (i) the self-reported behavior on self-management support of nurses in a university hospital; and (ii) the factors influencing this behavior. DESIGN: Total sample approach with cross-sectional design. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Nurses employed by a university hospital received an invitation for the research through e-mail containing a link to the survey. Of the 2054 nurses who had been invited to participate, 598 responded (29.11%). The entire questionnaire was completed by 379 nurses, 32 of whom indicated they did not work with patients on a daily basis. After excluding those 32, the final sample included 347 valid responses (16.9%). 90.5% of the respondents was female, mean age was 38.8 years. METHODS: In a web-based questionnaire, the self-efficacy and performance in self-management support instrument (SEPSS-36) was used, with additional questions about attitude, subjective norms, and perceived barriers for self-management support. RESULTS: This study shows that nurses are self-confident of their capabilities to support self-management. They also feel that most of the time they acted accordingly. Still, a significant gap between self-efficacy and behavior of self-management support was found (p<0.001). Nurses themselves perceive lack of time and patients' lack of knowledge as barriers for self-management support, but this did not influence their behavior (p>0.05). Regression analysis showed that perceived lack of own knowledge, the presumed absence of a patients' need for self-management support, and nurses' self-efficacy in self-management support are factors that influence the behavior of self-management support. 41.1% of the variance of behavior is explained by these three factors. CONCLUSION: This study shows a significant gap between self-reported self-efficacy and behavior in self-management support in nurses working in a university hospital. To enhance self-management support, managers and educators should take these influential factors into account. A third of the nurses did not report a need for additional training on self-management support. This implies that programs should also aim to improve reflective skills and raising awareness.

The development and psychometric validation of the self-efficacy and performance in self-management support (SEPSS) Instrument.

AIM: To develop and psychometrically test the self-efficacy and performance in self-management support (SEPSS) instrument. BACKGROUND: Facilitating persons with a chronic condition to take an active role in the management of their condition, implicates that nurses acquire new competencies. An instrument that can validly and reliably measure nurses' performance and their perceived capacity to perform self-management support is needed to evaluate current practice and training in self-management support. DESIGN: Instrument development and psychometric testing of the content and construct validity, factor structure and reliability. METHODS: A literature review and expert consultation (N = 17) identified the content. The items were structured according to the Five-A's model and an overarching category of 'overall' competencies. The initial instrument was tested in a sample of 472 nurses and 51 nursing students from Belgium and the Netherlands, between June 2014-January 2015. RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analyses revealed satisfactory fit indices for the six-factor structure. Discriminating power was demonstrated for subgroups. The overall internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) was high both for the self-efficacy and the performance items. The test-retest intra-class correlation coefficients were good. CONCLUSION: The SEPSS instrument is a 36-item, Likert-scaled self-reporting instrument with good content and construct validity, and good internal consistency reliability and good test-retest reliability. Therefore, it is a promising instrument to measure self-efficacy and performance with regard to self-management support.

Four perspectives on self-management support by nurses for people with chronic conditions: a Q-methodological study.

BACKGROUND: Self-management support is a major task of nurses in chronic care. Several conceptualizations on what self-management support encompasses are described in the literature. However, nurses' attitudes and perceptions related to self-management support are not known. OBJECTIVE: To reveal distinctive perspectives of nurses toward self-management support in chronic care. DESIGN AND METHODS: A Q-methodological study was conducted in which nurses rank-ordered 37 statements on self-management support. Thereafter they motivated their ranking in semi-structured interviews. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: A purposive sample of 49 Dutch nurses with a variety of educational levels, age, and from different healthcare settings was invited by e-mail to participate in the study. Thirty-nine nurses (aged 21-54 years) eventually participated. The nurses worked in the following settings: hospital (n=11, 28%), home-care (n=14, 36%), mental health care (n=7, 17%), elderly care (n=6, 15%) and general practice (n=1, 3%). RESULTS: Four distinct perspectives on the goals for self-management support were identified: the Coach, the Clinician, the Gatekeeper and the Educator perspective. The Coach nurse focuses on the patient's daily life activities, whereas the nurses of the Clinician type aim to achieve adherence to treatment. The goal of self-management support from the Gatekeeper perspective is to reduce health care costs. Finally, the Educator nurse focuses on instructing patients in managing the illness. CONCLUSIONS: The changing role of chronic patients with regard to self-management asks for a new understanding of nurses' supportive tasks. Nurses appear to have dissimilar perceptions of what self-management support entails. These distinct perceptions reflect different patient realities and demand that nurses are capable of reflexivity and sensitivity to patient needs. Different perspectives toward self-management support also call for diverse competencies and consequently, also for adaptation of educational nursing programs.