Self-care experiences of older patients with diabetes mellitus: A qualitative systematic literature review

Do Health-Related Quality-of-Life Domains and Items in Knee and Hip Osteoarthritis Vary in Importance Across Social-Cultural Contexts? A Qualitative Systematic Literature Review

e24103 Background: Cachexia is a syndrome of muscle wasting, weight loss, and anorexia, that frequently affects patients with advanced cancer across all major areas of oncology (surgical, medical, radiation, and chemotherapy), contributing to poorer treatment outcomes, including survival. In this qualitative systematic literature review, we reviewed the recent literature to assess the impact of cancer cachexia on chemotherapy dose reduction, treatment discontinuation, and survival. Methods: A systematic search was conducted on PubMed and Embase on November 26th, 2021, using the following search terms, among others: “cancer”, “cachexia”, “sarcopenia”, “muscle loss”, “body weight loss”, “chemotherapy”, “drug dose reduction”, “survival”, “treatment withdrawal”, and “treatment interruption”. 1,559 entries published between 2018 and 2021 were identified, of which 175 were duplicates. Publications were screened for eligibility and only original research in peer-reviewed journals were considered eligible. Inclusion criteria included: chemotherapy-specific studies; studies reporting on cachexia, body weight, or body composition changes; and studies reporting data on survival, chemotherapy dose reduction or treatment discontinuation, or occurrence of toxicities which may lead to chemotherapy dose reduction or treatment discontinuation in these patients. All studies that did not analyze the impact of cachexia on these outcomes were excluded. Results: A total of 63 studies, comprising a total of 15,832 patients, were considered eligible and selected for further analysis. The majority of analyzed studies, comprising 14,493 patients, reported associations between cancer cachexia (or its characteristics, such as weight loss or muscle wasting) and chemotherapy dose reductions in 7% of the studies, treatment discontinuation in 20% of the studies, and increased toxicity in 25% of the reports. Cachexia parameters were associated with inferior survival in 90% of the studies. The types of cancer most commonly associated with this effect were pancreatic (31% of studies), foregut (gastric, esophageal, and others, 17%), and lung cancer (14%). Conclusions: More than 70% of studies identified in the literature were retrospective assessments of patient records, while the remaining were prospective observational and interventional studies. In this review, cancer cachexia parameters were associated with reduced treatment delivery and inferior survival in multiple types of advanced cancer. These observations could have important implications for clinical practice, as early detection and successful treatment of cachexia might provide better outcomes for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Disclosure: This study was funded by Helsinn Healthcare SA. Contact: Gianluca.Ballinari@helsinn.com .

This paper reports on a systematic review of the international qualitative research literature on return to work. This review was undertaken in order to better understand the dimensions, processes, and practices of return to work. Because return to work often includes early return before full recovery while a person is undergoing rehabilitation treatment, physical recovery is embedded in complicated ways with workplace processes and practices and social organization. These process-oriented dimensions of return to work are well described in the qualitative literature. This systematic review of the literature covered peer-reviewed papers that focused on musculoskeletal and pain-related injuries and were published in English or French between 1990 and 2003. Findings from papers meeting relevance and quality criteria were synthesized using the meta-ethnographic approach. This review found that return to work extends beyond concerns about managing physical function to the complexities related to beliefs, roles, and perceptions of many players. Good will and trust are overarching conditions that are central to successful return-to-work arrangements. In addition, there are often social and communication barriers to return to work, and intermediary players have the potential to play a key role in facilitating this process. This paper identifies key mechanisms of workplace practice, process, and environment that can affect the success of return to work. The findings illustrate the contribution that qualitative literature can make to important aspects of implementation in relation to return to work.

Aim: The aim of this review was to describe and systemize existing literature on patient-experiences in the context of obesity treatment. The review question was: How do patients describe their experiences after obesity treatment? Background: Obesity problems vary on a continuum of intensity and types of problems during different periods of life. An increasing amount of available treatment requires patients and professionals to make choices concerning the suitability of the individual patient to undergo certain types of treatment. Surgical treatment is considered sustainable and more successful for weight loss than other interventions. Alternatively, conservative treatment of obesity may be a matter of dealing with mental issues as well as diet and exercise. In a qualitative context, a deeper understanding related to patients’ own posttreatment experiences is needed. Methods: A systematic qualitative literature review was conducted for the period from 2006 to November 2016. The search was done in Medline, Embase and CINAHL using the words: Obesity, binge eating, patient, experience or perspective, treat or therap or surgery or cognitive, intervention, programme. Results and discussion: 15 studies were included and an overview of the qualitative designs was presented. From the content analysis, one main theme, Struggle for a meaningful life during transition related to obesity treatment, was developed. The main theme was derived from three themes related to the patients’ challenges when searching for positive self-existence, for relevant treatment-support, and for a balance to obtain inner and outer control. Clinical implications: Different types of obesity treatment create processes of transitions. However, it is crucial that clinicians are aware of the potential existential struggle after obesity treatment that is experienced by the individual patients. Clearly, some patients need interventions targeting mental challenges at different levels. Future interventions should take into account that physical and mental treatment must work together.

The rapidly growing number of adults with type 2 diabetes globally means the uses and benefits of digital health initiatives to enhance self-management of diabetes warrant review. This systematic qualitative literature review aimed to understand usability of digital health initiatives for adults with type 2 diabetes. This systematic qualitative literature review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses, the PRISMA 2020 Statement methodology. Three databases were used (SCOPUS, Medline, and CINAHL) to identify studies published from 2016 to 2021 that focused on experiences, evaluations, and usability of digital health initiatives aimed at helping adults with type 2 diabetes to self-manage their condition. From the 407 studies identified, 35 studies were assessed for eligibility with 10 studies included in the final synthesis. Five main themes emerged: (1) unmet emotional needs, (2) enhancing self-management, (3) desire for education, (4) usability/user-experience, and (5) risk of biomedical marker reductionism. This review identified 5 key themes for consideration to understand usability of digital health initiatives. If these unmet psychosocial needs of adults with type 2 diabetes are better addressed in digital health initiatives, enhanced daily self-management will lead to more optimal diabetes management which can increase overall health outcomes, reduce the risk of longer-term complications, enhance quality of life for type 2 diabetes and improve more widespread adoption of digital health initiatives.

To date, much of the research on international science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) doctoral students has focused either on international academic mobility or on students' acculturation and adjustment challenges and coping mechanisms in foreign academic contexts. In comparison, very little attention has been paid to Asian doctoral students and their personal experiences from a life course perspective.Based on a qualitative literature review, this article sheds light on the experiences of Asian doctoral students in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) disciplines within a life-course theoretical approach, paying particular attention to their agency, socialisation, and educational trajectories and transitions. The process of migration/mobility and transition between academic institutions requires a reassessment of cognitive patterns, behaviours, learning mechanisms, and the exercise of agency and response. The findings highlight how the complex dynamics between agency, socialisation, cultural norms and values, economic factors, academic performance, and institutional parameters influence the educational trajectories and transitions of Asian STEM doctoral students abroad. The result contributes to a synthesis of research findings that could inform doctoral education policy.

Women's successful transition to motherhood during the early postnatal period: A qualitative systematic review of postnatal and midwifery home care literature.

There is an increasing interest in the scientific study of the association between spirituality and recovery from addiction. While most of these studies have provided evidence for a possible relationship, others have explored the underlying mechanisms and meditators in the relationship. However, generally, many studies and reviews have not approached the issue within a specific theoretical framework of mainstream psychology. In an attempt to fill this gap, the review being reported here undertook a Qualitative Systematic Literature Review (QSLR) of addiction-spirituality literature. QSLR is an orderly manner of searching for academic literature, selecting relevant literature following a set of inclusion/exclusion criteria, qualitatively analysing the selected literature, and reporting the findings in such a way as to generate a set of hypotheses. QSLR focusses on literary data, rather than on numerical data as the tradition Systematic Literature Review and Meta-analysis do. Working within the framework of positive psychology, the present review attempted to identify the character strengths relevant to addiction and recovery by carrying out a QSLR on 53 selected peer-reviewed articles. Among the 24 character strengths, the following emerged as salient: wisdom, integrity, vitality, humility, forgiveness, kindness, love, hope and spirituality. On this basis, a hypothetical conclusion is suggested.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a crime encompassing physical, psychological, financial, emotional, and sexual abuse by a current or former partner. The presence of love in abusive relationships tends to be marginalized in healthcare discourses. The authors' aim in this qualitative systematic literature review was to explore the interplay between IPV and romantic love and their impacts on women. The review provides a rare (but much needed) explanation and acknowledgement that love does sometimes exist in abusive relationships. These insights will assist healthcare workers in offering empathic care to women, based on understandings of the complex and highly unsettled nature of love in abusive relationships.

Although workplace health promotion (WHP) has evolved over the last 40 years, systematically collected knowledge on factors influencing the functioning of WHP is scarce. Therefore, a qualitative systematic literature review was carried out to systematically identify and synthesize factors influencing the phases of WHP interventions: needs assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation. Research evidence was identified by searching electronic databases (Scopus, PubMed, Social Sciences Citation Index, ASSIA, ERIC, IBBS and PsycINFO) from 1998 to 2013, as well as by cross-checking reference lists of included peer-reviewed articles. The inclusion criteria were: original empirical research, description of WHP, description of barriers to and/or facilitators of the planning, implementation and/or evaluation of WHP. Finally, 54 full texts were included. From these, influencing factors were extracted and summarized using thematic analysis. The majority of influencing factors referred to the implementation phase, few dealt with planning and/or evaluation and none with needs assessment. The influencing factors were condensed into topics with respect to factors at contextual level (e.g. economic crisis); factors at organizational level (e.g. management support); factors at intervention level (e.g. quality of intervention concept); factors at implementer level (e.g. resources); factors at participant level (e.g. commitment to intervention) and factors referring to methodological and data aspects (e.g. data-collection issues). Factors regarding contextual issues and organizational aspects were identified across three phases. Therefore, future research and practice should consider not only the influencing factors at different levels, but also at different phases of WHP interventions.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of the experience of secure care from the patients’ perspective.Design/methodology/approachA systematic review of qualitative literature was conducted. The data was sourced from the electronic databases: PsychINFO, CINAHL, Medline and the Web of Science Core Collection using pre-defined search terms. A total of 17 studies, conducted in various countries worldwide and covering high, medium and low secure inpatient settings, were included for review. The analysis involved integrating findings from across the literature and was guided by thematic synthesis.FindingsA total of eight themes were generated from the data, three of which provided an understanding of the experience of forensic secure care, and the remaining five themes provided an understanding of the factors which may influence the experience of secure care.Practical implicationsDeveloping understanding of patient experience can lead to service improvements, potentially impacting patients’ motivation and engagement and thus reducing admission times, potential recalls and recidivism.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first systematic review to date to exclusively explore the broad topic of the patient experience of secure mental health care.

BackgroundAgeing-in-place policies have increasingly shifted elder care responsibilities onto family members. Among older cohabiting couples, one’s partner’s illness significantly impacts the other’s daily life and well-being.AimTo explore the responsibilities and strategies of caregiving partners in older cohabiting couples from the perspectives of cohabiting caregivers.MethodsA qualitative systematic literature review was conducted across seven databases, following PRISMA guidelines and registered in PROSPERO (CRD42025632103). Sixty-five studies were included based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria using Covidence. Quality was assessed using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) checklist for qualitative studies. Data were synthesised through descriptive numerical summaries and thematic analysis.ResultsThe studies, conducted in 20 countries, primarily used individual interviews for data collection. Three overarching themes emerged: (1) strategies directed towards the partner, (2) strategies to maintain personal identity and space, and (3) strategies for navigating formal care systems. Cohabiting caregivers often assumed daily responsibilities despite emotional and physical strain. They relied on both informal and formal support to care for their partner and preserve time for themselves. However, formal care involvement led to issues such as broken agreements and inadequate services.ConclusionOlder cohabiting caregivers constantly balance and adapt their caregiving roles in relation to their partner, themselves, and formal care providers. This shift in responsibility results in an often invisible, morally-driven labour that remains under-recognised in Ageing-in-place policies. The study highlights the need for policy frameworks and interventions that acknowledge caregivers’ moral labour, enhance the quality of formal care, and support caregiver autonomy.Clinical trial registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD42025632103, identifier (CRD42025632103).

Framework This paper explores how a qualitative systematic literature review (SLR) can contribute to our understanding of the trends in upper-limb wearable devices. These devices are pieces of electronic equipment that can be worn as accessories, such as watches, or embedded in clothing, including gloves and sleeves, and could play an essential role in subjects' quality of life after any occurrence that affects their possibility to perform basic activities autonomously. Moreover, these devices can be used to improve manual performance tasks like surgical or precision tasks, and even more so when performed under extreme ambient temperature conditions. Goals and Methods: A SLR on upper-limb embedded devices was conducted based on scientific documents retrieved from the Scopus database. Two research questions were outlined: "How has this technology been evolving?" and "What is the trend according to the fields of application?". The combination of keywords (upper-limb* AND wearable* AND device*) was used in the title, abstract, and keywords fields. Results: A total of 555 documents were obtained. Descriptive statistical and bibliometric analyses were conducted, identifying trends, knowledge gaps, and the future direction of research. The free software VOSviewer was used to construct data visualization bibliometric maps of the co-authorship and co-citation network. A subset of 26 documents was considered for the critical qualitative synthesis. This step facilitated the visualization and exploration of the interconnectedness among authors and the citation patterns within the literature. Combining the information gathered enables addressing the extent and the emerging trends in upper-limb embedded devices' development according to the field they are applied. Final considerations: With this research, a starting point in developing a proof of concept of a novel device aimed at improving dexterity in challenging environments is established.

IntroductionAs the Chinese immigrant population in European countries ages, it is important to gain a deeper understanding of Chinese immigrants’ ageing processes from a life course perspective by recognising the complex interactions between social, cultural, and institutional constructs and dynamics. This article aimed at exploring how older Chinese immigrants in Europe handle everyday lives in respect to ageing from the perspectives of older Chinese immigrants, their relatives, and health/social care professionals.MethodsThe study is registered in PROSPERO (CRD42023455411), and the PRISMA 2020 checklist guided the study. A qualitative systematic review was conducted through searches in the databases CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO, Medline/PubMed, SocINDEX, Web of Science, and pearl search in Scopus (last search 3 September, 2023). Inclusion criteria were: (1) Studies about Chinese immigrants’ everyday lives, living, and ageing, or studies focusing on their use of health/social care services, (2) Perspectives of Chinese immigrants in Europe, their relatives, and related health/social care professionals, (3) Qualitative peer- reviewed studies published in English, and (4) publications from 2000–2023. The initial search retrieved 842 publications. Seventeen publications were included and analysed through a thematic analysis.ResultsThe results presented the included studies’ characteristics and four themes: Everyday life as an older adult mirrored the life lived, Work and working conditions as significant for ageing, Cultural complexes that shape social identities, Immigrants’ social position as significant for encounters with health and social care professionals.DiscussionOlder Chinese immigrants’ everyday lives related to ageing were not only dynamically influenced by social, interpersonal, and institutional factors accumulated in their life trajectories, but reflected the process of constructing social and cultural identity in their new homeland. Future policies should promote culturally responsive healthcare, social services, and employment support to address the unique ageing experiences of older Chinese immigrants.Systematic review registrationsThe systematic review has been registered on PROSPERO and the registration number is CRD42023455411.

Introduction:Finding solutions to communicate difficulties in care interactions between health care professionals and older migrant patients may be facilitated by the use of digital translation tools. The aim was to explore older migrant patients’ and health professionals’ experiences using digital translation tools in transcultural care.Methodology:A systematic qualitative literature review, based on nine quality assessed articles published 2009 to 2024 from five databases, and analyzed using thematic analysis.Results:Three themes and eight subthemes emerged: advantages of using translation tools describes the benefits experienced using such tools; limitations and challenges highlights the problems identified in their use; and improvement suggestions for the functions of the translation apps describes adjustments and developments of the translation tools.Discussion:Digital translation used in basic care, may enhance relationships and equity of care, but should not substitute human interpreters in complex care conversations. Translation tools need to be developed according to older users’ abilities.