'It's like trying to ice a cake that's not been baked': a qualitative exploration of the contextual factors associated with implementing an evidence-based information intervention for family carers at the end of life.

Aim: To explore the introduction of an evidence-based information intervention - the 'Caring for Someone with Cancer' booklet - within home care and end-of-life care, to inform future implementation and practice development within this setting.

Background: Family carers' contribution is crucial to enable care and death of people at home. The 'Caring for Someone with Cancer' booklet received positive responses from family carers and District Nurses and is an evidence-based intervention designed to support carers to deliver basic nursing tasks.

Strategies, facilitators and barriers to implementation of evidence-based practice in community nursing: a systematic mixed-studies review and qualitative synthesis.

Unlabelled: AimTo appraise and synthesize empirical literature on implementation of evidence within community nursing. To explore the use of implementation theory and identify the strategies required for, and the barriers and facilitators to, successful implementation within this context.

Background: There is an international consensus that evidence-based practice can improve outcomes for people using health and social care services.

A poststructural rethinking of the ethics of technology in relation to the provision of palliative home care by district nurses.

Technology and its interfaces with nursing care, patients and carers, and the home are many and varied. To date, healthcare services research has generally focussed on pragmatic issues such access to and the optimization of technology, while philosophical inquiry has tended to focus on the ethics of how technology makes the home more hospital like. However, the ethical implications of the ways in which technology shapes the subjectivities of patients and carers have not been explored.

Quality care as ethical care: a poststructural analysis of palliative and supportive district nursing care.

Quality of care is a prominent discourse in modern health-care and has previously been conceptualised in terms of ethics. In addition, the role of knowledge has been suggested as being particularly influential with regard to the nurse-patient-carer relationship. However, to date, no analyses have examined how knowledge (as an ethical concept) impinges on quality of care.

Management of the respiratory distress symptom cluster in lung cancer: a randomised controlled feasibility trial.

Background: Breathlessness, cough and fatigue are distressing symptoms for patients with lung cancer. There is evidence that these three symptoms form a discreet symptom cluster. This study aimed to feasibly test a new non-pharmacological intervention for the management of the Respiratory Distress Symptom Cluster (breathlessness-cough-fatigue) in lung cancer.

Subjective and Objective Sleep Quality in Individuals with Osteoarthritis in Taiwan.

Objectives: The negative effects of osteoarthritis (OA), such as pain and depression, interfere with an individual's sleep quality. The main objective of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of poor quality of sleep in individuals with OA in Taiwan and identify potential predictors. A secondary objective was to examine agreement between objective and subjective measures of sleep quality.

'Busyness' and the preclusion of quality palliative district nursing care.

Ethical care is beginning to be recognised as care that accounts for the views of those at the receiving end of care. However, in the context of palliative and supportive district nursing care, the patients' and their carers' views are seldom heard. This qualitative research study explores these views.

Referral and management options for patients with chronic kidney disease: perspectives of patients, generalists and specialists.

Background: Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is increasing in prevalence and significance as a global public health issue. Appropriate management of CKD stages 3-4 in either generalist or specialist care is essential in order to slow disease progression. As various consulting options between services may be used, it is important to understand how patients and practitioners view these options.

Considerations in developing and delivering a non-pharmacological intervention for symptom management in lung cancer: the views of health care professionals.

Background: A respiratory distress symptom cluster has recently been identified in lung cancer associated with breathlessness, cough and fatigue, and the study reported here is part of a wider body of work being undertaken to develop a novel non-pharmacological intervention (NPI) for the management of this symptom cluster. The current paper reports the views of health care professionals (HCPs) involved with cancer care regarding the most appropriate ways of developing and delivering such a novel intervention.

Methods: Five focus groups, supplemented with additional telephone interviews, were conducted with a range of both community- and acute-based HCPs involved in symptom management for lung cancer patients.

Individuals' expectations and challenges following total hip replacement: a qualitative study.

Purpose: Hip replacements are one of the most common operations for individuals with hip osteoarthritis. There have been numerous quantitative studies investigating the recovery from joint replacement surgery and these show how effective and satisfied patients are. However, little qualitative work has been conducted to explore patients' actual experiences.

GP referral of patients with osteoarthritis for consideration of total joint replacement: a longitudinal study.

Background: Individuals with hip or knee osteoarthritis (OA) are referred to orthopaedic surgeons if considered by their GP as potential candidates for total joint replacement (TJR). It is not clear which patients end up having this surgery.

Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate symptom variation in individuals with OA newly referred by GPs to an orthopaedic surgeon for consideration for TJR, and to determine the predictors of having this procedure.

Quality of care for individuals with osteoarthritis: a longitudinal study.

Objectives: The objectives of this paper were to investigate quality of care for individuals with osteoarthritis (OA) and to determine if those most in need had the outcome of a total joint replacement (TJR). Key quality indicators were involvement in treatment decisions, appropriate information provision and outcomes of care.

Methods: A longitudinal study was conducted on individuals newly referred to an orthopaedic specialist at one hospital in North West England.

An exploratory study of the follow-up care needs of patients treated for colorectal cancer.

Aims And Objectives: To explore patient perceptions of their experiences of follow-up care after treatment for colorectal cancer.

Background: The optimal follow-up strategy for colorectal cancer is not known, and although patients are seen in traditional outpatient follow-up clinics, this system may not meet psycho-social and information needs.

Design: An exploratory qualitative study.

Promoting the health of people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: patients' and carers' views.

Aims And Objectives: The aim of this study was to generate in-depth insights into patients' and family members' understanding of the causation, progression and prevention of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and the role of health promotion with this population. In particular, we were interested in identifying the ways patients and family members considered that they could maximise their (patients') health, in the presence of this disease.

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is highly prevalent and a significant cause of morbidity and mortality, impacting on quality of life and healthcare expenditure.

District nurses' role in palliative care provision: a realist review.

Objectives: The aim of this review is to construct a detailed account of the role of the district nurse (generalist registered nurse providing nursing care in primarily home settings) in providing palliative care, to determine if and how district nursing care provides effective care to such patients at home, and to examine the utility of a realist review for the above purpose.

Design: Realist review of literature.

Data Sources: Papers in English reporting aspects of the district nurse role in the provision of palliative care are included.

Is chronic pelvic pain a comfortable diagnosis for primary care practitioners: a qualitative study.

Background: Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) has a prevalence similar to asthma and chronic back pain, but little is known about how general practitioners (GPs) and practice nurses manage women with this problem. A clearer understanding of current management is necessary to develop appropriate strategies, in keeping with current health care policy, for the supported self-management of patients with long term conditions. The aim of this study was to explore GPs' and practice nurses' understanding and perspectives on the management of chronic pelvic pain.

Specialist community nurses: a critical analysis of their role in the management of long-term conditions.

The aim of this narrative review is to identify strategies in use by specialist community and public health nurses in the prevention, care and management of individuals with long-term conditions, specifically chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and musculoskeletal disorders. These conditions have been selected as they are highly prevalent; a burden on health services globally and a major public health issue. From a UK policy perspective, specialist community nurses have been placed at the forefront of taking a lead role in the coordination and delivery of more responsive services for individuals with long-term conditions; whether this has been an effective use of skills and resource is questionable.

Effectiveness of a home care nursing program in the symptom management of patients with colorectal and breast cancer receiving oral chemotherapy: a randomized, controlled trial.

Purpose: To assess the effectiveness of a symptom-focused home care program in patients with cancer who were receiving oral chemotherapy in relation to toxicity levels, anxiety, depression, quality of life, and service utilization.

Patients And Methods: A randomized, controlled trial was carried out with 164 patients with a diagnosis of colorectal (n = 110) and breast (n = 54) cancers who were receiving oral capecitabine. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either a home care program by a nurse or standard care for 18 weeks (ie, six cycles of chemotherapy).

Return to work after cancer in the UK: attitudes and experiences of line managers.

Introduction: With improvements in diagnosis, treatment and survival rates, returning to work after cancer is of increasing importance to individuals and employers. Although line managers can play a potentially important role in the return to work process, research thus far has focused on the return to work process from the perspective of cancer survivors.

Aim: To explore the attitudes of line managers towards employees with a cancer diagnosis.

A narrative review of interventions to support family carers who provide physical care to family members with cancer.

Objectives: Most reports of cancer caregivers' needs focus on information and psychosocial needs. Less is known about practical knowledge and support carers need to provide physical care in the home. This review aimed to identity and critique studies of the development and/or evaluation of interventions to enable family carers to provide physical/practical care to a family member with cancer.

Influences on individuals with osteoarthritis in deciding to undergo a hip or knee joint replacement: a qualitative study.

Purpose: Osteoarthritis (OA) of the hip and knee is one of the major long-term health conditions. At the end-stage of the disease, a hip or knee replacement may be necessary. Yet, deciding to undergo a total joint replacement (TJR) due to OA may be a difficult decision for individuals.

Colorectal cancer patients' attitudes towards involvement in decision making.

Objectives: To design and administer an attitude rating scale, exploring colorectal cancer patients' views of involvement in decision making. To examine the impact of socio-demographic and/or treatment-related factors on decision making. To conduct principal components analysis to determine if the scale could be simplified into a number of factors for future clinical utility.

A review of the information and support needs of family carers of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Aims And Objectives: The objectives of this narrative review were to identify: (1) The information and support needs of carers of family members with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; (2) appropriate interventions to support carers in their caregiving role; (3) information on carers' needs as reported in studies of patients living with COPD in the community.

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a major health problem in the UK resulting in significant burden for patients, families and the health service. Current National Health Service policies emphasise, where medically appropriate, early discharge for acute exacerbations, hospital-at-home care and other models of community care to prevent or reduce re-hospitalisations of people with chronic conditions.

Comparing hospital and telephone follow-up after treatment for breast cancer: randomised equivalence trial.

Objective: To compare traditional hospital follow-up with telephone follow-up by specialist nurses after treatment for breast cancer.

Design: A two centre randomised equivalence trial in which women remained in the study for a mean of 24 months.

Setting: Outpatient clinics in two NHS hospital trusts in the north west of England

Participants: 374 women treated for breast cancer who were at low to moderate risk of recurrence.

Cancer survivorship and return to work: UK occupational physician experience.

Background: Survivorship following diagnosis of cancer is increasing in prevalence. However, cancer survivors continue to report difficulty re-entering the workplace after diagnosis and treatment.

Aims: To survey UK occupational health physicians (OHPs) regarding their role in rehabilitation of employed survivors of cancer.