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‘Physical Well-Being Is Our Top Priority’: Healthcare Professionals’ Challenges in Supporting Psychosocial Well-Being in Stroke Services

Authors

Bright, Felicity
Ibell-Roberts, Claire
Featherstone, Katie
Signal, Nada
Wilson, BJ
Collier, Aileen
Fu, Vivian

Supervisor

Item type

Journal Article

Degree name

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Wiley

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Following stroke, a sense of well-being is critical for quality of life. However, people living with stroke, and health professionals, suggest that well-being is not sufficiently addressed within stroke services, contributing to persistent unmet needs. Knowing that systems and structures shape clinical practice, this study sought to understand how health professionals address well-being, and to examine how the practice context influences care practice. METHODS: Underpinned by Interpretive Description methodology, we interviewed 28 health professionals across multiple disciplines working in stroke services (acute and rehabilitation) throughout New Zealand. Data were analysed using applied tension analysis. RESULTS: Health professionals are managing multiple lines of work in stroke care: biomedical work of investigation, intervention and prevention; clinical work of assessment, monitoring and treatment; and moving people through service. While participants reported working to support well-being, this could be deprioritised amidst the time-oriented pressures of the other lines of work that were privileged within services, rendering it unsupported and invisible. CONCLUSION: Stroke care is shaped by biomedical and organisational imperatives that privilege physical recovery and patient throughput. Health professionals are not provided with the knowledge, skills, time or culture of care that enable them to privilege well-being within their work. This has implications for the well-being of people with stroke, and the well-being of health professionals. In making these discourses and culture visible, and tracing how these impact on clinical practice, we hope to provide insight into why well-being work remains other to the 'core' work of stroke, and what needs to be considered if stroke services are to better support people's well-being. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTIONS: People with stroke, family members and people who provide support to people with stroke, and health professionals set priorities for this research. They advised on study conduct and have provided feedback on wider findings from the research.

Description

Keywords

healthcare practitioner, professional practice, psychosocial well-being, qualitative, stroke, healthcare practitioner, professional practice, psychosocial well-being, qualitative, stroke, 4203 Health Services and Systems, 4205 Nursing, 42 Health Sciences, Stroke, Brain Disorders, Clinical Research, Rehabilitation, Health Services, Neurosciences, Behavioral and Social Science, 7.1 Individual care needs, 7 Management of diseases and conditions, 8.1 Organisation and delivery of services, 8 Health and social care services research, Generic health relevance, Stroke, 3 Good Health and Well Being, 1110 Nursing, 1117 Public Health and Health Services, 1701 Psychology, Public Health, 4203 Health services and systems, 4206 Public health

Source

Health Expectations, ISSN: 1369-6513 (Print); 1369-7625 (Online), Wiley, 27(2), e14016-. doi: 10.1111/hex.14016

Rights statement

© 2024 The Authors. Health Expectations published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.