Optimising communication between consumers and clinicians.
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Communication↗
Biomedical subjects
Christine Walker
Publications and source records attributed to Christine Walker.
A randomised control trial of a self-management program for people with a chronic illness from Vietnamese, Chinese, Italian and Greek backgrounds.
OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the effectiveness of the Chronic Disease Self-management Program (CDSMP) when delivered to for people from Vietnamese, Chinese, Italian and Greek backgrounds living in Victoria, Australia. METHOD: The CDSMP was administered to 320 people with chronic illnesse(es) in selected low income areas in the State of Victoria, Australia. At 6 months, they were compared with randomised wait-list control subjects (n=154) using analyses of covariance. RESULTS: Participants in the intervention group had significantly better outcomes on energy, exercise, symptom management, self-efficacy, general health, pain, fatigue and health distress. There were no significant effects for health services utilisation. Interactions across language groups were observed with the Vietnamese and Chinese speaking participants gaining greater benefit. CONCLUSION: Self-management programs can be successfully implemented with culturally and linguistically diverse populations in Australia. Further research is needed to evaluate long-term outcomes; explore effects on service utilisation; and to determine whether the benefits obtained from participating in a self-management program can be maintained. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Self-management programs should be considered for people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Care also needs to be taken in designing recruitment strategies to minimize withdrawal rates and to ensure harder to reach people are given encouragement to participate.
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Exploring the role of self-management programmes in caring for people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in Melbourne, Australia.
BACKGROUND: Chronic disease self-management programmes are now an important adjunct to the treatment and care of Australians with chronic illnesses. Most programmes are delivered in English and cater for 'Anglo' views of health and illness. The Peer-Led Self-Management of Chronic Illness Project was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) to test the hypothesis that the Stanford University Chronic Disease Self-Management Program would improve health outcomes for people from the Vietnamese, Greek, Chinese and Italian communities in Melbourne's north-eastern suburbs. OBJECTIVE: To examine the extent to which the programme required modification so that the concepts associated with self-management programmes have relevance to the health behaviours of people with chronic illness from the above communities. METHODS: Four focus groups facilitated in English, using interpreters. RESULTS: There was wide understanding of the concepts employed in self-management programmes. Literacy problems emerged as the major obstacle to participating in unmodified programmes. CONCLUSION: The conceptual aspects of the programme require less modification than originally predicted, but the programme requires sensitive modification so that it is accessible to people with low literacy levels.
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Self-management: its place in the management of chronic illnesses.
Self-management programs are now regarded as important facets in the overall care of people with chronic illnesses. They are seen as producing long-lasting benefits both to participants and to the health system in terms of reduced hospitalisations and reduced lengths of stay, as well as decreasing medication usage. In this article we examine what constitutes self-management and the evidence supporting the views that the benefits are unequivocal. We argue that greater attention to research design is required before the benefits can be assessed. We also argue that greater attention must be paid to access issues for people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds (CALD) and lower socioeconomic status.
Australia↗