Papers examining self-management of long-term conditions published

Research funded by CLAHRC Greater Manchester has been published in PLOS ONE and BMC Health Services Research.

“The Contribution of Social Networks to the Health and Self-Management of Patients with Long-Term Conditions: A Longitudinal Study” (PLOS ONE, June 2014) examines how the social networks of people with long-term conditions (diabetes and heart disease) are associated with health-related outcomes and changes in outcomes over time.

Findings indicated that: (1) social involvement with a wider variety of people and groups supports personal self-management and physical and mental well-being; (2) support work undertaken by personal networks expands in accordance with health needs helping people to cope with their condition; (3) network support substitutes for formal care can produce substantial saving in traditional health service utilisation costs.

“Aligning everyday life priorities with people's self-management support networks: an exploration of the work and implementation of a needs-led telephone support system” (BMC Health Services Research 2014, 14:26) examines the implementation of the Patient-Led Assessment for Network Support (PLANS) intervention, a needs-led assessment for patients to prioritise their health and social needs and provide access to local community services and activities.

Informed by Normalisation Process Theory (NPT), this research uses qualitative methods (interviews, a focus group and observations) to explore the experience of PLANS from the perspectives of both the patients who received it and the telephone support workers who delivered it as part of the BRIGHT trial, and the reasons why the intervention worked or not.

Date Published: 23/06/2014