Publications by authors named "Shelly Hutchinson"

While there are both ethical and practical imperatives to address health inequity issues related to chronic disease management for persons with social complexity, existing programs often do not appropriately address the needs of these individuals. This leads to low levels of participation in programs, suboptimal chronic disease management, and higher health-care utilization. The aims of this project were to describe the challenges related to availability, accessibility, and acceptability faced by socially complex patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) who were eligible, but declined enrollment in a traditional Chronic Disease Management Program (CDMP).

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Aim: To explore the impact of living with advanced chronic respiratory illness in a rural area

Methods: Using an interpretive descriptive approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven people living with advanced chronic respiratory illness in a rural area of Western Canada.

Results: Themes that characterised the experience of living in a rural setting with a chronic obstructive respiratory illness included: a) distance as a barrier to accessing health care; b) relationships with family practice physicians; c) supportive local community; and d) lack of respiratory education and peer support.

Conclusions: Whilst living with advanced respiratory illness in a rural area posed some significant challenges, experiences of "place", conceptualised as a web of relationships embedded within a local context, are an important factor in rural residents' decisions to remain in situations where distance may present significant challenges to accessing health care.

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