Improving support for heart failure patients: a systematic review to understand patients' perspectives on self-care.

Aims: This systematic review aimed to generate patient-focussed recommendations to enhance support of heart failure self-care by examining patients' experiences, perspectives and self-care behaviours.

Background: Despite increased recognition of the importance of heart failure self-care, patients' knowledge and practices around this self-care and interventions to improve it are inconsistent. Consequently, current guidelines focus on what the domains of heart failure self-care are, more so than the ways to improve this care.

A secondary meta-synthesis of qualitative studies of gender and access to cardiac rehabilitation.

Aims: To discuss issues in the theorization and study of gender observed during a qualitative meta-synthesis of influences on uptake of secondary prevention and cardiac rehabilitation services.

Background: Women and men can equally benefit from secondary prevention/cardiac rehabilitation and there is a need to understand gender barriers to uptake.

Design: Meta-method analysis secondary to meta-synthesis.

A systematic review of patient heart failure self-care strategies.

Background: Self-care is at the foundation for living with a chronic condition such as heart failure (HF). Patients with HF express difficulty with translating self-care knowledge into understanding "how" to engage in these activities and behaviors. Understanding the strategies that patients develop to engage in self-care will help healthcare providers (HCPs) improve support for unmet self-care needs of HF patients.

Factors influencing participation in cardiac rehabilitation programmes after referral and initial attendance: qualitative systematic review and meta-synthesis.

Background: Greater participation in cardiac rehabilitation improves morbidity and mortality in people with coronary heart disease, but little is understood of patients' decisions to participate.

Methods: To develop interventions aimed at increasing completion of programmes, we conducted a qualitative systematic review and meta-synthesis to explore the complex factors and processes influencing participation in cardiac rehabilitation programmes after referral and initial access. To be included in the review, studies had to contain a qualitative research component, population specific data on programme participation in adults >18 years, and be published ≥1995 as full articles or theses.

A qualitative systematic review of influences on attendance at cardiac rehabilitation programs after referral.

Background: Cardiac rehabilitation and secondary prevention programs can prevent heart disease in high-risk populations. However, up to half of all patients referred to these programs do not subsequently participate. Although age, sex, and social factors are common predictors of attendance, to increase attendance rates after referral, the complex range of factors and processes influencing attendance needs to be better understood.

Understanding help-seeking decisions in people with heart failure: a qualitative systematic review.

Objective: To understand the process of help-seeking among heart failure patients from the perspectives of patients, caregivers and health professionals.

Design: Systematic review using qualitative meta-synthesis.

Methods: A systematic search (20th May 2011) was conducted to identify studies published in English as full papers ≥1995 reporting primary qualitative data with extractable heart failure-specific data or themes related to help-seeking in patients, caregivers or health professionals.