Middle-aged Australians’ perceptions of support to reduce lifestyle risk factors: a qualitative study

Ashley, Christine; Halcomb, Elizabeth; McInnes, Susan; Robinson, Karin; Lucas, Elizabeth; Harvey, Susan; Remm, Sarah

doi:10.1071/py20030

Cited by 7 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Men's limited understanding of the role of the general practice beyond acute health care was a key finding of this review. Similar findings were highlighted by Ashley et al (2020) who noted that men, in particular, did not see general practice as a source of health education or lifestyle advice, attending the practice only if acutely unwell or in response to being prompted. Men, in particular have been found to deny the implications of lifestyle risk factors (Halcomb et al, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Men's help‐seeking and engagement with general practice: An integrative review

Mursa

Patterson

Halcomb

2022

Journal of Advanced Nursing

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Aim:To critically synthesize the literature that describes men's help-seeking and engagement with general practice.Design: Integrative literature review.Data sources: CINAHL plus, Medline and APA PsycInfo were searched for papers published between 1999 and March 2021.Review methods: After screening titles and abstracts, full-text papers were screened against inclusion / exclusion criteria. All included papers were assessed for methodological quality. Findings were extracted, critically examined and synthesized into themes.Results: Twenty studies met the inclusion criteria. Thematic analysis revealed four themes related to; (1) structural barriers, (2) internal barriers, (3) men's understanding of the role of general practice, and (4) self-care and help-seeking. The findings indicate that men can find general practice unwelcoming and unaccommodating. Men can also experience psychological barriers that impact engagement and help-seeking.Men predominantly view general practice as a source of acute health care and do not appreciate the role of general practice in preventive health care and advice. Conclusion:This review has provided insight into the issues around the barriers to health care engagement, men's understanding of the role of general practice and their associated help-seeking. Seeking to further understand these issues could assist in the development of strategies to promote engagement of men with general practice health care.Impact: This review highlights research about men's engagement with general practice and the missed opportunities in receiving preventive health care and education. Enhancing men's engagement with general practice has the potential to reduce the impact of their health on quality of life and improve health outcomes.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Men's help‐seeking and engagement with general practice: An integrative review

Mursa

Patterson

Halcomb

2022

Journal of Advanced Nursing

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“…A key omission in the included studies was the involvement of health care professionals. Despite nurses and physicians being trusted by patients to provide health advice and support for behavior change [ 48 ], none of the included studies involved health care providers in the interventions. Ventola [ 49 ] argues that social media use by health care providers can improve health outcomes and foster communication.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Social Media Interventions on Weight Reduction and Physical Activity Improvement Among Healthy Adults: Systematic Review

Shiyab¹,

Halcomb²,

Rolls³

et al. 2023

J Med Internet Res

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Background A sedentary lifestyle and being overweight or obese are well-established cardiovascular risk factors and contribute substantially to the global burden of disease. Changing such behavior is complex and requires support. Social media interventions show promise in supporting health behavior change, but their impact is unclear. Moreover, previous reviews have reported contradictory evidence regarding the relationship between engagement with social media interventions and the efficacy of these interventions. Objective This review aimed to critically synthesize available evidence regarding the impact of social media interventions on physical activity and weight among healthy adults. In addition, this review examined the effect of engagement with social media interventions on their efficacy. Methods CINAHL and MEDLINE were searched for relevant randomized trials that were conducted to investigate the impact of social media interventions on weight and physical activity and were published between 2011 and 2021 in the English language. Studies were included if the intervention used social media tools that provided explicit interactions between the participants. Studies were excluded if the intervention was passively delivered through an app website or if the participants had a known chronic disease. Eligible studies were appraised for quality and synthesized using narrative synthesis. Results A total of 17 papers reporting 16 studies from 4 countries, with 7372 participants, were identified. Overall, 56% (9/16) of studies explored the effect of social media interventions on physical activity; 38% (6/16) of studies investigated weight reduction; and 6% (1/16) of studies assessed the effect on both physical activity and weight reduction. Evidence of the effects of social media interventions on physical activity and weight loss was mixed across the included studies. There were no standard metrics for measuring engagement with social media, and the relationship between participant engagement with the intervention and subsequent behavior change was also mixed. Although 35% (6/16) of studies reported that engagement was not a predictor of behavior change, engagement with social media interventions was found to be related to behavior change in 29% (5/16) of studies. Conclusions Despite the promise of social media interventions, evidence regarding their effectiveness is mixed. Further robust studies are needed to elucidate the components of social media interventions that lead to successful behavior change. Furthermore, the effect of engagement with social media interventions on behavior change needs to be clearly understood. Trial Registration PROSPERO International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews CRD42022311430; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=311430

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“…Data from this paper are drawn from a larger qualitative study around the health and well‐being of middle‐aged Australians. Findings relating to the role of health professionals and professional support for health are discussed elsewhere due to the large volume of interview data and disparate focus (Ashley et al 2020).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding perceptions of health, lifestyle risks and chronic disease in middle age

Halcomb

Ashley

Middleton

et al. 2021

Journal of Clinical Nursing

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Aim The aim of this paper is to explore the perceptions, attitudes and beliefs of middle‐aged Australians around their health, lifestyle risks and chronic disease. Background Health promotion and risk reduction are important to stem the rising prevalence of chronic disease. While there has been much emphasis on supporting these strategies in older Australians, there has been less attention on those in middle age. However, as this group age, their health will inevitably be impacted by lifestyle risk. Design A qualitative descriptive study using semi‐structured interviews. Reporting was guided by the COREQ checklist. Methods Thirty‐four participants aged 40–65 years were recruited across South Eastern New South Wales, Australia, using convenience sampling. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted by four registered nurses with qualitative research experience. Verbatim transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis. Results Sixteen women and 18 men participated in the interviews. Four themes emerged, namely: adopting healthy lifestyles; denial; an impetus for change; and sustaining change. Perceptions about what constituted good health varied, with male participants being more ambivalent about their health. Impetus for change was mostly influenced by family history, awareness of health risks and identification of risks by health professionals. Participants found sustaining change challenging, particularly with regard to smoking cessation and dietary modifications. Conclusions Understanding the perceptions of health of middle‐aged people is important and enables health professionals to engage in early behavioural change conversations that consider perceived barriers to lifestyle modification. Findings from this study emphasise the importance of discussions about lifestyle risk to reduce the future burden of chronic disease. Relevance to Clinical Practice These findings illustrate the importance of understanding perceptions of health to guide primary health care nurses to develop person‐centred health promotion and chronic disease prevention strategies in this age group.

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Middle-aged Australians’ perceptions of support to reduce lifestyle risk factors: a qualitative study

Cited by 7 publications

References 19 publications

Men's help‐seeking and engagement with general practice: An integrative review

Men's help‐seeking and engagement with general practice: An integrative review

The Impact of Social Media Interventions on Weight Reduction and Physical Activity Improvement Among Healthy Adults: Systematic Review

Understanding perceptions of health, lifestyle risks and chronic disease in middle age

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