Understanding the Meaning of Loneliness and Social Engagement for the Workings of a Social Network Intervention Connecting People to Resources and Valued Activities.

Background: Addressing loneliness, which is associated with poor mental and physical health, implicates the need for connectivity to a broad set of situated relationships and activities in the contexts of people's everyday lives. Social engagement has been identified as a relevant psychosocial mechanism mediating health and wellness and is central to addressing loneliness. The aim here is to explore the way in which people identified as lonely conceptualise their experiences of loneliness and social engagement for the purposes of incorporating these into the design and workings of an intervention that allows people to map their social networks and connect them to community-based valued activities.

Active surveillance for prostate cancer is a shared journey: the dyadic perspective.

Active surveillance for prostate cancer monitors disease progression, with a view to actively treat only if progression is evident. Living with an untreated cancer can negatively impact psychological wellbeing. Partners can influence decisions to convert to active treatment in the absence of disease progression, it is, therefore, important to consider partner reactions and responses to prostate cancer treatment options.

People from ethnic minorities seeking help for long COVID: a qualitative study.

Background: People from ethnic minority groups are disproportionately affected by COVID-19, less likely to access primary health care, and have reported dissatisfaction with health care. Although the prevalence of long COVID in ethnic minority groups is unclear, such populations are underrepresented in long-COVID specialist clinics and long-COVID lived-experience research, which informed the original long-COVID healthcare guidelines.

Aim: To understand the lived experiences of long COVID in people from ethnic minority groups.

The experiences of men on active surveillance for prostate cancer and their significant others: A qualitative synthesis.

Background: Active surveillance (AS) for prostate cancer (PCa) is a monitoring pathway for men with low-grade, slow growing PCa and aims to delay or avoid active treatment by treating only in the case of disease progression. Experiences of this pathway vary but living with an untreated cancer can have a negative psychological impact on both the patient and their significant other (SO). Literature suggests partners are the primary source of support for men on AS, and therefore it is important to consider SO experiences alongside those of the patient.

Interventions to support patients with sharing genetic test results with at-risk relatives: a synthesis without meta-analysis (SWiM).

Whilst the finding of heritable susceptibility to disease was once relatively rare, mainstreaming of genetic testing has resulted in a steady increase. Patients are often encouraged to share their genetic test results with relevant relatives, but relatives may not receive this information, leaving them without knowledge of their own risk. Therefore, strategies to help communicate such information are important.

Exploring the lived experience of Long Covid in black and minority ethnic groups in the UK: Protocol for qualitative interviews and art-based methods.

Some people experience prolonged symptoms following an acute COVID-19 infection including fatigue, chest pain and breathlessness, headache and cognitive impairment. When symptoms persist for over 12 weeks following the initial infection, and are not explained by an alternative diagnosis, the term post-COVID-19 syndrome is used, or the patient-defined term of Long Covid. Understanding the lived experiences of Long Covid is crucial to supporting its management.

Planning and developing a web-based intervention for active surveillance in prostate cancer: an integrated self-care programme for managing psychological distress.

Objectives: To outline the planning, development and optimisation of a psycho-educational behavioural intervention for patients on active surveillance for prostate cancer. The intervention aimed to support men manage active surveillance-related psychological distress.

Methods: The person-based approach (PBA) was used as the overarching guiding methodological framework for intervention development.

Effect of Self-monitoring of Blood Pressure on Blood Pressure Control in Pregnant Individuals With Chronic or Gestational Hypertension: The BUMP 2 Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Inadequate management of elevated blood pressure is a significant contributing factor to maternal deaths. The role of blood pressure self-monitoring in pregnancy in improving clinical outcomes for the pregnant individual and infant is unclear.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of blood pressure self-monitoring, compared with usual care alone, on blood pressure control and other related maternal and infant outcomes, in individuals with pregnancy hypertension.

Examining the optimal factors that promote implementation and sustainability of a network intervention to alleviate loneliness in community contexts.

Community environments have the potential to alleviate loneliness and social isolation as they offer opportunity for sociality and to expand personal social network connections. Implementing a social network intervention in community environments to connect people to who are at risk of loneliness or social isolation could help alleviate these concerns. However, implementing interventions in community environments is made difficult by the interplay between the community context and intervention.

Rural influences on the social network dynamics of district nursing services: A qualitative meta-synthesis.

Background And Aims: As demands on healthcare services grow, fiscal restrictions place increased emphasis on services outside of traditional healthcare settings. Previous research into long-term-conditions suggests that social network members (including weaker ties such as acquaintances, community groups, and healthcare professionals) play a key role in illness management. There is limited knowledge about the engagement of social networks in supporting people who are receiving medical interventions at home.

Implementing a digital intervention for managing uncontrolled hypertension in Primary Care: a mixed methods process evaluation.

Background: A high proportion of hypertensive patients remain above the target threshold for blood pressure, increasing the risk of adverse health outcomes. A digital intervention to facilitate healthcare practitioners (hereafter practitioners) to initiate planned medication escalations when patients' home readings were raised was found to be effective in lowering blood pressure over 12 months. This mixed-methods process evaluation aimed to develop a detailed understanding of how the intervention was implemented in Primary Care, possible mechanisms of action and contextual factors influencing implementation.

Home and Online Management and Evaluation of Blood Pressure (HOME BP) using a digital intervention in poorly controlled hypertension: randomised controlled trial.

Objective: The HOME BP (Home and Online Management and Evaluation of Blood Pressure) trial aimed to test a digital intervention for hypertension management in primary care by combining self-monitoring of blood pressure with guided self-management.

Design: Unmasked randomised controlled trial with automated ascertainment of primary endpoint.

Setting: 76 general practices in the United Kingdom.

Blood pressure monitoring in high-risk pregnancy to improve the detection and monitoring of hypertension (the BUMP 1 and 2 trials): protocol for two linked randomised controlled trials.

Introduction: Self-monitoring of blood pressure (BP) in pregnancy could improve the detection and management of pregnancy hypertension, while also empowering and engaging women in their own care. Two linked trials aim to evaluate whether BP self-monitoring in pregnancy improves the detection of raised BP during higher risk pregnancies (BUMP 1) and whether self-monitoring reduces systolic BP during hypertensive pregnancy (BUMP 2).

Methods And Analyses: Both are multicentre, non-masked, parallel group, randomised controlled trials.

Intervention planning and modification of the BUMP intervention: a digital intervention for the early detection of raised blood pressure in pregnancy.

Background: Hypertensive disorders in pregnancy, particularly pre-eclampsia, pose a substantial health risk for both maternal and foetal outcomes. The BUMP (Blood Pressure Self-Monitoring in Pregnancy) interventions are being tested in a trial. They aim to facilitate the early detection of raised blood pressure through self-monitoring.

Study protocol for 'The Project About Loneliness and Social networks (PALS)': a pragmatic, randomised trial comparing a facilitated social network intervention (Genie) with a wait-list control for lonely and socially isolated people.

Introduction: Loneliness and social isolation have been identified as significant public health concerns, but improving relationships and increasing social participation may improve health outcomes and quality of life. The aim of the Project About Loneliness and Social networks (PALS) study is to assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a guided social network intervention within a community setting among individuals experiencing loneliness and isolation and to understand implementation of Generating Engagement in Network Involvement (Genie) in the context of different organisations.

Methods And Analysis: The PALS trial will be a pragmatic, randomised controlled trial comparing participants receiving the Genie intervention to a wait-list control group.

The role of collective efficacy in long-term condition management: A metasynthesis.

Social networks have been found to have a valuable role in supporting the management of long-term conditions. However, the focus on the quality and how well self-management interventions work focus on individualised behavioural outcomes such as self-efficacy and there is a need for understanding that focuses on the role of wider collective processes in self-management support. Collective efficacy presents a potentially useful candidate concept in the development and understanding of self-management support interventions.

Development of a measure of collective efficacy within personal networks: A complement to self-efficacy in self-management support?

Objective: To develop and evaluate the Collective Efficacy of Networks (CENS) questionnaire to measure perceived collective efficacy within personal social networks.

Methods: A mixed methods approach was used, guided by theory and with extensive input from adults with long-term conditions who completed the initial questionnaire (n = 78) with test-retest assessed at 2 weeks (n = 68). A second sample (n = 85) completed a postal questionnaire including CENS, theoretically linked constructs (self-efficacy, social support) and health outcomes (loneliness, mental and physical health).

Qualitative process study to explore the perceived burdens and benefits of a digital intervention for self-managing high blood pressure in Primary Care in the UK.

Objectives: Digital interventions can change patients' experiences of managing their health, either creating additional burden or improving their experience of healthcare. This qualitative study aimed to explore perceived burdens and benefits for patients using a digital self-management intervention for reducing high blood pressure. A secondary aim was to further our understanding of how best to capture burdens and benefits when evaluating health interventions.

Using the Person-Based Approach to optimise a digital intervention for the management of hypertension.

Background: For behaviour-change interventions to be successful they must be acceptable to users and overcome barriers to behaviour change. The Person-Based Approach can help to optimise interventions to maximise acceptability and engagement. This article presents a novel, efficient and systematic method that can be used as part of the Person-Based Approach to rapidly analyse data from development studies to inform intervention modifications.

Intervention planning for a digital intervention for self-management of hypertension: a theory-, evidence- and person-based approach.

Background: This paper describes the intervention planning process for the Home and Online Management and Evaluation of Blood Pressure (HOME BP), a digital intervention to promote hypertension self-management. It illustrates how a Person-Based Approach can be integrated with theory- and evidence-based approaches. The Person-Based Approach to intervention development emphasises the use of qualitative research to ensure that the intervention is acceptable, persuasive, engaging and easy to implement.

Understanding how primary care practitioners perceive an online intervention for the management of hypertension.

Background: In order to achieve successful implementation an intervention needs to be acceptable and feasible to its users and must overcome barriers to behaviour change. The Person-Based Approach can help intervention developers to improve their interventions to ensure more successful implementation. This study provides an example of using the Person-Based Approach to refine a digital intervention for hypertension (HOME BP).

Home and Online Management and Evaluation of Blood Pressure (HOME BP) digital intervention for self-management of uncontrolled, essential hypertension: a protocol for the randomised controlled HOME BP trial.

Introduction: Self-management of hypertension, including self-monitoring and antihypertensive medication titration, lowers blood pressure (BP) at 1 year compared to usual care. The aim of the current trial is to assess the effectiveness of the Home and Online Management and Evaluation of Blood Pressure (HOME BP) intervention for the self-management of hypertension in primary care.

Methods And Analysis: The HOME BP trial will be a randomised controlled trial comparing BP self-management-consisting of the HOME BP online digital intervention with self-monitoring, lifestyle advice and antihypertensive drug titration-with usual care for people with uncontrolled essential hypertension.

Activity patterns in response to symptoms in patients being treated for chronic fatigue syndrome: An experience sampling methodology study.

Objective: Cognitive-behavioral models of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) propose that patients respond to symptoms with 2 predominant activity patterns-activity limitation and all-or-nothing behaviors-both of which may contribute to illness persistence. The current study investigated whether activity patterns occurred at the same time as, or followed on from, patient symptom experience and affect.

Method: Twenty-three adults with CFS were recruited from U.