Nursing Reports

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Jacqueline Dunbar-Jacob

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

School of Nursing, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
Interests: health behavior; self-management and self-care; chronic disease

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nursing Reports intends to publish a Special Issue on the topic of “Self-Management of Chronic Disease” in 2024. You are invited to submit a proposal for a manuscript for this Special Issue. Chronic disease accounts for 74% of all deaths worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. There are at least 20 recognized chronic diseases, and many tend to occur in clusters, accounting for the high incidence of multiple chronic conditions in individuals. Health behaviors are the leading contributors to these highly prevalent conditions. There is evidence for the improvement in these conditions through self-management practices. This Special Issue welcomes manuscripts which address the theories of self-management, the effective components in self-management, the self-management of multiple chronic conditions, patient adherence to self-management practices, the training of providers in the delivery of self-management education for patients, self-management effectiveness with co-occurring mental health conditions and across the age span, and related topics.

Prof. Dr. Jacqueline Dunbar-Jacob
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nursing Reports is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

self-management
chronic disorders
multimorbidity
health behavior change
self-regulation

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

27 pages, 1109 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Defining Self-Management for Solid Organ Transplantation Recipients: A Mixed Method Study

by Katie Brunner, Lydia Weisschuh, Stefan Jobst, Christiane Kugler and Anne Rebafka

Nurs. Rep. 2024, 14(2), 961-987; https://doi.org/10.3390/nursrep14020073 - 17 Apr 2024

Viewed by 546

Abstract

Patients with Solid Organ Transplantations (SOTx) face long-term lifestyle adaptations, psychological and social adjustments, and complex self-care regimes to maintain health post-transplant. Self-management (SM) skills represent important aspects of nursing communication with SOTx patients; however, there is potential for SM to be defined narrowly in terms of medication adherence. The study presented here collated the existing definitions in a mixed method review in order to identify SM attributes for this group (including those unique to this population). Secondary analysis of a dataset and bibliographic analysis and an expert panel were used to develop a comprehensive working definition of SOTx patients. The analysis comprised critical interpretation of the evolving definition content, concepts, and contexts of application in current usages and over time. We identified eight definitions and 63 cited definition sources from bibliographic analysis. Findings identified limitations of the existing definitions. Population-specific attributes included optimisation of transplant outcomes, active engagement in healthy behaviours, control, structure, and discipline characteristics, and moderating factors of patient motivation, self-efficacy, and cognitive function. A critical appraisal of definitions indicated inadequately defined aspects such as setting, temporal dimension, concept interaction, interventions, and measurable outcomes. The bibliographic analysis highlighted the influence of broader chronic illness constructions of SM, underpinning the generalisable SM attributes in current definitions. Further research may advance the development of a definition in exploring the relevance of SOTx-specific attributes of the definition. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Self-Management of Chronic Disease)

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Graphical abstract

10 pages, 243 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Rising Challenge of Poor Health Literacy of Patients with Systemic Sclerosis: Preliminary Data Identify Important Unmet Needs in an Italian Cohort

by Khadija El Aoufy, Maria Ramona Melis, Paolo Iovino, Stefano Bambi, Chiara Lorini, Guglielmo Bonaccorsi, Ilaria Galetti, Carla Garbagnati, Paola Canziani, Silvia Tonolo, Marco Mitola, Serena Guiducci, Daniel E. Furst, Marco Matucci-Cerinic, Laura Rasero and Silvia Bellando-Randone

Nurs. Rep. 2024, 14(1), 556-565; https://doi.org/10.3390/nursrep14010043 - 5 Mar 2024

Viewed by 656

Abstract

Rationale and aim: Health literacy (HL) is pivotal for the successful self-management of chronic diseases. Little HL information is currently available in SSc patients; therefore, the present study aims at evaluating the HL levels in an Italian cohort of SSc patients. Methods: SSc patients were enrolled with the support of Italian patient associations, from September 2022 to March 2023. Health literacy characteristics were derived from the Health Literacy Scale European Questionnaire-16 (HLS-EU-Q16), consisting of 16 items designed on a four-point Likert scale ranging from “very difficult” to “very easy”, and three HL levels were identified: inadequate HL (0–8 score); problematic HL (9–12 score); and sufficient HL (13–16 score). Results: Enrolled patients (n = 57, mean age = 59 years, SD = 13.2) were mostly female (98.2%), partnered (73.7%), and unemployed or retired (67.9%). Almost half of SSc patients were diagnosed more than 10 years ago, with first symptoms appearing on average 19 years ago (SD 10.5). In 63% of the participants, the overall health literacy skills were inadequate, or problematic, especially in the health care and disease prevention domains. Indeed, 49.2% of the patients declared difficulty in finding information on treatments for illnesses and where to get professional help (42.1%), 47.6% found difficulty in retrieving information on how to manage mental health problems, and 40.4% declared difficulties in judging whether the information on health risks in the media was reliable. Conclusions: Our findings show that SSc patients have inadequate or problematic levels of HL, suggesting the need for periodic screenings to uncover poor health literacy skills and to provide tailored and understandable educational material. This study was not registered. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Self-Management of Chronic Disease)

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