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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Abisola BalogunORCiD, Dr Sue BellassORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2021 Balogun-Katung et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Background: People living with severe mental illness (SMI) have a reduced life expectancy by around 15–20 years, in part due to higher rates of long-term conditions (LTCs) such as diabetes and heart disease. Evidence suggests that people with SMI experience difficulties managing their physical health. Little is known, however, about the barriers, facilitators and strategies for self-management of LTCs for people with SMI. Aim: To systematically review and synthesise the qualitative evidence exploring facilitators, barriers and strategies for self-management of physical health in adults with SMI, both with and without long-term conditions. Methods CINAHL, Conference Proceedings Citation Index- Science, HMIC, Medline, NICE Evidence and PsycInfo were searched to identify qualitative studies that explored barriers, facilitators and strategies for self-management in adults with SMI (with or without co-morbid LTCs). Articles were screened independently by two independent reviewers. Eligible studies were purposively sampled for synthesis according to the richness and relevance of data, and thematically synthesised. Results: Seventy-four articles met the inclusion criteria for the review; 25 articles, reporting findings from 21 studies, were included in the synthesis. Seven studies focused on co-morbid LTC self-management for people with SMI, with the remaining articles exploring self-management in general. Six analytic themes and 28 sub-themes were identified from the synthesis. The themes included: the burden of SMI; living with co-morbidities; beliefs and attitudes about self-management; support from others for self-management; social and environmental factors; and routine, structure and planning. Conclusions: The synthesis identified a range of barriers and facilitators to self-management, including the burden of living with SMI, social support, attitudes towards self-management and access to resources. To adequately support people with SMI with co-morbid LTCs, healthcare professionals need to account for how barriers and facilitators to self-management are influenced by SMI, and meet the unique needs of this population.
Author(s): Balogun-Katung A, Carswell C, Brown JVE, Coventry P, Ajjan R, Alderson S, Bellass S, Boehnke JR, Holt R, Jacobs R, Kellar I, Kitchen C, Lister J, Peckham E, Shiers D, Siddiqi N, Wright J, Young B, Taylor J
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: PLoS ONE
Year: 2021
Volume: 16
Issue: 10
Online publication date: 26/10/2021
Acceptance date: 10/10/2021
Date deposited: 17/07/2025
ISSN (electronic): 1932-6203
Publisher: Public Library of Science
URL: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258937
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258937
Data Access Statement: he manuscript is a qualitative evidence synthesis, therefore the data used in the synthesis are available through the References.
PubMed id: 34699536
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