Funded projects

Lay SummaryBackground: Long-term conditions such as diabetes and chronic lung diseases are among those that present the greatest need the to the NHS. New ways of helping people with these conditions are developing. Nurses make ...

Lay SummaryBackground: Long-term conditions such as diabetes and chronic lung diseases are among those that present the greatest need the to the NHS. New ways of helping people with these conditions are developing. Nurses make up a large part of the health workforce and are becoming more involved in long-term conditions in many ways.There has been some research into the effect of nurses in long-term conditions. If we can find out what nursing roles make the most difference this would help to provide better services. To enable the government to understand more about the work that nurses, midwives and health visitors do to help people with long term illnesses three projects were funded in 2005.Each project is undertaking a review of published research that reflects the individual focus of each study. All 3 projects involve the public on their advisory groups.There is the opportunity to combine the findings from each review to produce a report on the main messages from all three. This will help us to identify both the amount of research that has already been done and how well it has been carried out.Purpose: To establish what types of nurse, midwife or health visitor, the kind of work they do and the settings they work in are most useful in supporting people with long term illnesses.We will spend four months working with the three universities. We will examine all three reviews of the research and bring together all the common messages.We will also look for any areas where there needs to be more research or where the quality of the research needs to be improved. A report will be written and sent to the funding body and will be made available to the public when it is satisfied with the results.

Background: In 2005 the SDO commissioned three projects under the programme: "Evaluating the nursing, midwifery and health visiting contribution to models of chronic disease management". Theses were awarded to:- University of Hertfordshire with ...

Background: In 2005 the SDO commissioned three projects under the programme: "Evaluating the nursing, midwifery and health visiting contribution to models of chronic disease management". Theses were awarded to:- University of Hertfordshire with City University: The nursing, midwifery and health visiting contribution to CDM: a whole systems approach (PI S.Kendall).- Kings College, London: A multi-context, multi-method assessment of the contribution of nurses to chronic disease management in England and Wales. (PI A.While).- University of Hertfordshire with UCL: Evaluating the nursing, midwifery and health visiting contribution to models of chronic disease management (PI C.Goodman).Each project is undertaking a systematic approach to searching the literature which has been peer-reviewed and reflects the individual aims and focus of each study. here is the opportunity to integrate the findings from each review to produce a review of reviews which draws out the main themes in the literature and identifies the range and quality of evidence to inform the nursing, midwifery and health visiting contribution to long term conditions. This additional review will not include any new material over and above the material included in each of the supporting research studies but will provide an integration and synthesis.Aims: We are reviewing 3 individual reviews we are not re-evaluating individual pieces of evidence.To undertake a scoping review of 3 reviews of the nursing, midwifery and health visiting contribution to models of chronic disease management.To establish the types of nurse, midwife and health visitor and nursing, midwifery and health visiting activity and contextual settings that have the strongest evidence base for practice.Method: To achieve the above aims we are proposing a four month piece of work which will integrate the methods and findings from the individual reviews. The approach will draw on existing methodologies (e.g EPPI centre 2006, Greenhalgh et al 2004) but will not rely exclusively on any one recognised method. This is because the expected output is unique in that it draws on 3 commissioned reviews that already have defined criteria and objectives. This integration of reviews will tabulate the similarities and differences between the reviews and use thematic content analysis to arrive at the common themes of the reviews. These will be presented in a matrix of process and outcome. A consensus approach to arriving at the key messages from the three reviews will be used. These approaches will be interspersed with two workshops that enable the research teams to come together to discuss the on-going analysis of the three reviews. The final output will be a report that integrates the process and findings from the three reviews and highlights the evidence for effectiveness as well as the gaps in the research.