Background: Diabetes has become a challenging health priority globally. Given the tensions of financially burdened health systems in Europe the mobilisation of community resources like voluntary organisations and community groups is seen as a health policy strategy to sustain the management of long-term conditions like diabetes. However, little is known about how this is happening in practice in Europe.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe shift from social democratic to a neoliberal consensus in modern welfare capitalist states is characterised by an emphasis on individual responsibility, consumer choice, market rationality and growing social inequalities. There has been little exploration of how neoliberalism has shaped the environment within which chronic illness is experienced and managed. This article explores the different articulations of neoliberalism manifest in the arena of personal illness management in Bulgaria and the UK.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objective: The spread of self-care holds the promise of containing chronic illness burden. Falling within the framework of a FP7 collaborative research project, this paper reports the views of key informants from six countries regarding who the main stakeholders are at different levels in the support system for self-care for patients with chronic illness (SSSC) and how they accomplish their role and collaborate.
Methods: 90 Interviews with purposefully selected key informants from Bulgaria, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and United Kingdom were conducted.
Objective: The objective of this study was to explore which aspects of social networks are related to self-management capabilities and if these networks have the potential to reduce the adverse health effects of deprivation.
Methods: In a cross-sectional study we recruited type 2 diabetes patients in six European countries. Data on self-management capabilities was gathered through written questionnaires and data on social networks characteristics and social support through subsequent personal/telephone interviews.
Food and diet are central aspects of diabetes self-management but the relevance of social networks for the way people are supported in their management of type 2 diabetes is often under-acknowledged. In this article, we aimed to explore the coalescences between these two phenomena among people with type 2 diabetes to increase knowledge of interactions within social network related to daily diet. The article is based on 125 qualitative interviews with individuals with type 2 diabetes from five European countries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis paper presents a meta-synthesis of the literature on community-based self-management to support experiences of people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. The aim was to synthesise findings on both formal and informal self-management support with particular reference to the relevance and influence of the social context operating at different levels. The review forms part of EU-WISE, a project financed through EU's 7th Framework Programme.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Support from individual social networks, community organizations and neighborhoods is associated with better self-management and health outcomes. This international study examined the relative impact of different types of support on health and health-related behaviors in patients with type 2 diabetes.
Methods: Observational study (using interviews and questionnaires) in a sample of 1,692 type 2 diabetes patients with 5,433 connections from Bulgaria, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to critically review the literature on the role and work of voluntary organizations and community groups and volunteers in diabetes self-management programs. It seeks to explain how these organizations are located and could be integrated further within a broader system of support.
Methods: A critical interpretative synthesis of the literature was undertaken as part of the conceptual development of a European research project.
Background: European countries are increasingly adopting systems of self -care support (SMS) for long term conditions which focus on enhancing individual, competencies, skills, behaviour and lifestyle changes. To date the focus of policy for engendering greater self- management in the population has been focused in the main on the actions and motivations of individuals. Less attention has been paid to how the broader influences relevant to SMS policy and practice such as those related to food production, distribution and consumption and the structural aspects and economics relating to physical exercise and governance of health care delivery systems might be implicated in the populations ability to self- manage.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Living with and self-managing a long-term condition implicates a diversity of networked relationships. This qualitative study examines the personal communities of support of people with type 2 diabetes.
Methods: We conducted 170 biographical interviews in six European countries (Bulgaria, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and UK) to explore social support and networks.
Background: Self-management of long term conditions can promote quality of life whilst delivering benefits to the financing of health care systems. However, rarely are the meso-level influences, likely to be of direct relevance to these desired outcomes, systematically explored. No specific international guidelines exist suggesting the features of the most appropriate structure and organisation of health care systems within which to situate self-management approaches and practices.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Long-term conditions pose major challenges for healthcare systems. Optimizing self-management of people with long-term conditions is an important strategy to improve quality of life, health outcomes, patient experiences in healthcare, and the sustainability of healthcare systems. Much research on self-management focuses on individual competencies, while the social systems of support that facilitate self-management are underexplored.
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