Robyn Wojeck, PhD student, published "Self-management interventions in systemic sclerosis: A systematic review" in Research in Nursing & Health. Co-authors include Donald (Chip) Bailey, associate professor, Mitchell Knisely, assistant professor, and Tamara Somers with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. 

Abstract

Systemic sclerosis is a rare and incurable autoimmune disease in which patients are challenged with self-managing their disease. Systematic evaluation of the essential self-management intervention components and self-management outcomes is necessary to assess the state of the science of self-management for patients with systemic sclerosis. As such, the purpose of this systematic review was to identify and describe self-management interventions and their impact on self-management outcomes in adults with systemic sclerosis. Studies were included if they contained a self-management intervention, incorporated at least one self-management outcome identified as a common data element by the National Institute of Nursing Research (i.e., patient activation, self-efficacy, self-regulation, global health), and were conducted in adults with systemic sclerosis. Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines, PubMed, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and Embase were searched from the inception of each database to March 2020, yielding a total of 215 studies. Of these reports, 16 met the inclusion criteria for this review. There was notable variability in the types of self-management interventions and their effects on key self-management outcomes. Self-management interventions focused on improving physical function through rehabilitation programs were the most common interventions (n = 7). The poor methodological quality of the studies included in this systematic review, however, limited the synthesis of and recommendations for self-management interventions in adults with systemic sclerosis. Future research in systemic sclerosis should include key self-management outcomes in larger, more rigorously designed studies to allow for comparisons across studies and to advance the science of self-management.

Citation

Wojeck, R. K., Bailey, D. E., Somers, T. J., & Knisely, M. R. (2021). Self-management interventions in systemic sclerosis: A systematic review. Research in nursing & health, 44(2), 376–392. https://doi.org/10.1002/nur.22118