Promoting the empowerment and emancipation of community-dwelling older adults with chronic multimorbidity through a home visiting programme: a hermeneutical study.

INTRODUCTION: Nurse-led preventive home visiting programmes can improve health-related outcomes in community-dwelling older adults, but they have not proven to be cost-effective. Home visiting programmes led by nursing students could be a viable alternative. However, we do not know how community-dwelling older adults with chronic multimorbidity experience home visiting programmes in which nursing students carry out health promotion activities. The aim of the study is to understand how community-dwelling older adults with chronic multimorbidity experience a home visiting programme led by nursing students. METHODS: A qualitative study based on Gadamer's hermeneutics. Thirty-one community-dwelling older adults with chronic multimorbidity were interviewed in-depth. Fleming's method for conducting hermeneutic, Gadamerian-based studies was followed and ATLAS.ti software was used for data analysis. RESULTS: Two main themes were generated: (1) 'The empowering experience of a personalised health-promoting intervention', and (2) 'The emancipatory effect of going beyond standardised self-care education'. CONCLUSIONS: The home visiting programme contributed to the community-dwelling older adults feeling more empowered to engage in health-promoting self-care behaviours. It also improved the older adults' sense of autonomy and self-efficacy, while reducing their loneliness and addressing some perceived shortcomings of the healthcare system. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Older adults participating in a home visiting programme led by nursing students feel empowered to implement self-care behaviours, which has a positive impact on their perceived health status. Nurse leaders and nursing regulatory bodies could collaborate with nursing faculties to integrate preventive home visiting programmes led by nursing students into the services offered to community-dwelling older adults with chronic multimorbidity.

Effects of home visiting programmes on community-dwelling older adults with chronic multimorbidity: a scoping review.

BACKGROUND: Chronic ultimorbidity is the most frequent and serious health problem in older adults. Home visiting programmes could be a strategy with potential benefits. However, there are no scoping reviews to date that examine the effects of home visiting programmes on community-dwelling older adults with chronic multimorbidity. OBJECTIVE: To examine the effects of home visiting programmes on community-dwelling older adults with chronic multimorbidity. METHODS: A scoping review was carried out following PRISMA-ScR reporting guidelines. The search was conducted in six databases (PubMed/Medline, Cochrane, CINAHL, Web of Science, Scopus and EMBASE) between October 2021 and April 2022. RESULTS: Four RCTs with 560 patients were included. The visits were carried out by nurses, nursing students, volunteers, and other healthcare professionals. The interventions varied in the number of visits, frequency, duration of follow-up, and whether or not they were combined with other strategies such as telephone calls. Discrepancies were found in the effects of the interventions on quality of life, self-efficacy, self-rated health, and use and cost of health and social services. CONCLUSION: This review shows that home visiting programmes could have potential benefits for older adults with chronic multimorbidity. However, its results have been inconclusive. There is a need for high quality studies involving a larger number of patients, in which home visits are the main intervention.

Spanish version of the self-care self-efficacy scale: A validation study in community-dwelling older adults with chronic multimorbidity.

OBJECTIVE: To test the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Self-Care Self-Efficacy Scale (SCSES-Sp) in community-dwelling older adults with chronic multimorbidity. METHODS: A sample of 1013 community-dwelling older adults with chronic multimorbidity participated in an observational cross-sectional study that was carried out in 3 phases. RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the SCSES-Sp has 4 dimensions: "self-efficacy in self-care behaviours based on clinical knowledge", "self-efficacy in self-care maintenance", "self-efficacy in self-care monitoring", and "self-efficacy in self-care management". A panel of independent experts considered the content of the SCSES-Sp valid. Convergent validity analysis showed moderate-strong correlations between all of the SCSES-Sp's dimensions and the reference criteria chosen. Reliability was good for the SCSES-Sp and all its dimensions. Test-retest reliability analysis showed that the SCSES-Sp was temporally stable. CONCLUSIONS: The SCSES-Sp is a valid and reliable tool to assess self-efficacy in self-care in Spanish-speaking, community-dwelling older adults with chronic multimorbidity.

Nursing students' experiences of a home visiting programme for older adults with multimorbidity (VISITAME project): A phenomenological study.

INTRODUCTION: Nursing students should acquire competence in promoting self-care in older adults with chronic multimorbidity, but opportunities for clinical practice are limited. The implementation of a home visiting programme to community-dwelling older adults with chronic multimorbidity could contribute to nursing students' acquisition of this competence. OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to understand the experience of nursing students participating in a home visiting programme to community-dwelling older adults with chronic multimorbidity. DESIGN: Qualitative study based on Gadamer's hermeneutic phenomenology. METHOD: Twenty-two in-depth interviews were conducted with nursing students participating in a home visiting programme. Data were recorded, transcribed and analysed following the procedure developed by Fleming. RESULTS: Three main themes were extracted in the data analysis process: (1) 'living the theory. Experience as a catalyst for learning', (2) 'the home visiting programme as a tool for promoting competence in caring for older adults', and (3) 'when learning sparks interest in working with older adults'. CONCLUSION: The home visiting programme to community-dwelling older adults has an important impact on the personal and professional development of nursing students. The experience of the home visiting programme leads to deep learning that sparks interest in caring for older adults. The implementation of a home visiting programme could be a beneficial strategy for the acquisition of competence to promote health and self-care.

Experiences of poverty amongst low-income older adults living in a high-income country: A qualitative study.

AIM: To understand the experience of low-income older adults living in poverty in a high-income country. DESIGN: A qualitative study based on Gadamer's hermeneutic phenomenology. METHODS: A convenience sample of twenty-seven low-income older adults were interviewed in-depth between September 2021 and January 2022. Fleming's method for conducting phenomenological qualitative studies was followed and ATLAS.ti software was used for data analysis. RESULTS: Three main themes were extracted from the analysis: (i) 'living in the shadow of poverty', (ii) 'unprotected by the 'social shield' of the welfare state' (iii) 'the struggle to attain good health'. CONCLUSION: Living in poverty affects all spheres of life. Older adults living in poverty feel excluded from social support policies and laws. This has a negative impact on the older adults' mental health and can lead to social isolation. IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PROFESSION AND/OR PATIENT CARE: Nursing interventions to promote health amongst older adults living in poverty should include an assessment of the patient's social determinants and a focus on increasing social participation. Older people living in poverty experience difficulties accessing formal social support so nurses should implement patient navigation interventions that aim to help them overcome the complexities of the system. Nursing interventions to improve mental health amongst older adults living in poverty are much needed. IMPACT: Living in poverty increases older adults' vulnerability. Older adults living in poverty suffer from mental health issues as they live under constant pressure to meet their basic needs and lack formal social support. These findings are important for nurses, who play a pivotal role in the design, implementation and evaluation of policies and interventions that promote health equity. REPORTING METHOD: The study has been conducted following the COREQ guidelines. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: There has been no public or patient involvement in the design or development of the study.