Psychotherapy supervision conducted via videoconferencing: A qualitative study of users' experiences

Forty-three patients who had been treated in hospital for major depression were studied 1 to 2 years after discharge. Patients retrospectively ranked physical exercise as the most important element in the comprehensive treatment programme. Most subjects continued with regular exercise after discharge, and most of these exercised aerobically at least 2 h a week. Exercisers tended to have lower depression scores at follow-up examination than nonexercisers.     

Received social support, self-efficacy, and finding benefits in disease as predictors of physical functioning and adherence to antiretroviral therapy

OBJECTIVE: The study investigated whether received social support, self-efficacy, and finding benefits in disease are related to physical functioning and adherence to antiretroviral medication among men and women infected with HIV. METHODS: Data were collected among 104 patients of three HIV clinics in India. The measures included general self-efficacy scale, Berlin social support scales, questionnaire on taking antiretroviral medication, and SF-20 (physical functioning). RESULTS: The results of path analysis and mediation analysis revealed that finding benefits and self-efficacy were directly related to both adherence and physical functioning. Additionally, finding benefits mediated the relation between patients' self-efficacy and adherence as well as physical functioning. Although received support was unrelated to adherence directly, effects of received support on adherence were mediated by self-efficacy. CONCLUSIONS: Besides personal and social resources, benefit finding was related to better adherence to antiretroviral medication. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Identifying patients receiving low social support, with weak general self-efficacy and finding no benefits in being diagnosed with HIV may help to elicit those people who are at risk for poorer adherence and physical functioning.     

A focus group study of patient’s perspective and experiences of type 2 diabetes and its management in Jordan

Background

Diabetes is increasingly becoming a major health problem in Jordan and glycemic goals are often not achieved.

A qualitative study exploring patients’ experiences regarding insulin pump use

Background

Diabetes is a threat to peoples’ lives around the world, particularly in the Middle East. Medicine misuse and poor glycaemic control are prevalent among patients with type 2 diabetes, especially insulin-dependent patients (Alsairafi et al., 2016). With advances in medical technology, insulin pumps became a treatment option for patients with type 1 diabetes and those with insulin-dependent type 2 diabetes. However, use of these devices is still lacking in Kuwait, particularly in patients with type 2 diabetes. Information on how patients manage these devices and their efficacy and safety from the perspectives of patients is also lacking (Alsaleh et al., 2016).

Medication non-adherence and uncertainty: Information-seeking and processing in the Danish LIFESTAT survey

Background

Statins are widely prescribed to lower cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. However, statin non-adherence is very high.

Addressing medication nonadherence by mobile phone: Development and delivery of tailored messages

BackgroundMedication nonadherence remains a significant public health problem, and efforts to improve adherence have shown only limited impact. The tailoring of messages has become a popular method of developing communication to influence specific health-related behaviors but the development and impact of tailored text messages on medication use is poorly understood.ObjectivesThe aim of this paper is to describe an approach to developing theory-based tailored messages for delivery via mobile phone to improve medication adherence among patients with diabetes.MethodsKreuter's five-step tailoring process was followed to create tailored messages for mobile phone delivery. Two focus group sessions, using input from 11 people, and expert review of message content were used to adapt the survey instrument on which the messages were tailored and edit the developed messages for the target population.Results and conclusionsFollowing established tailoring methods a library of 168 theory-driven and 128 medication-specific tailored messages were developed and formatted for automated delivery to mobile phones. Concepts from the Health Belief Model and Self-Determination Theory were used to craft the messages and an algorithm was applied to determine the order and timing of messages with the aim of progressively influencing disease and treatment-related beliefs driving adherence to diabetes medication. The process described may be applied to future investigations aiming to improve medication adherence in patients with diabetes and the effectiveness of the current messages will be tested in a planned analysis.