International Journal of Nursing Studies
International Journal of Nursing Studies
5 years ago

Collaborative nurse-led self-management support for primary care patients with anxiety, depressive or somatic symptoms: Cluster-randomised controlled trial (findings of the SMADS study)

Collaborative, nurse-led care is a well-established model of ambulatory care in many healthcare systems. Nurses play a key role in managing patients’ conditions as well as in enhancing symptom- and self-management skills. Objective The SMADS trial evaluated the effectiveness of a primary care-based, nurse-led, complex intervention to promote self-management in patients with anxiety, depressive or somatic symptoms. Change in self-efficacy 12 months post baseline was used as the primary outcome. Design The SMADS trial set up a two-arm, cluster randomised controlled trial in the city of Hamburg, a large metropolitan area in the North West of Germany. Setting We randomly allocated participating primary care practices to either the intervention group (IG), implementing a nurse-led collaborative care model, or to the control group (CG), where patients with the above psychosomatic symptoms received routine treatment. Participants Patients from 18 to 65 years of age, regularly consulting a participating primary care practice, scoring≥5 on the anxiety, depressive or somatic symptom scales of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-D), German version. Methods A mixed model regression approach was used to analyse the outcome data. Analyses were based on the intention-to-treat population: All enrolled patients were analysed at their follow-up. Additionally, we reported results as effect sizes. The robustness of the results was investigated by performing an observed cases analysis. Results 325 participants (IG N=134, CG N=191) from ten practices in each study arm consented to take part and completed a baseline assessment. The mean group difference (ITT-LOCF, IG vs. CG) in self-efficacy at the post baseline follow-up (median 406days) was 1.65 points (95% CI 0.50–2.8) in favour of IG (p=0.004). This amounts to a small Cohen’s d effect size of 0.33. An observed cases analysis (168 participants, IG=56, CG=105) resulted in a mean difference of 3.13 (95% CI 1.07–5.18, p=0.003) between the groups, amounting to a moderate effect size of d=0.51. Conclusion A complex, nurse-led intervention, implemented as a collaborative care model, increased perceived self-efficacy in patients with symptoms of anxiety, depression or somatisation compare to control patients. For the first time in the German healthcare system, the SMADS trial validated the belief that a nurse can successfully complement the work of a general practitioner – particularly in supporting self-management of patients with psychosomatic symptoms and their psychosocial needs.

Publisher URL: www.sciencedirect.com/science

DOI: S0020748916301225

You might also like
Discover & Discuss Important Research

Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.

  • Download from Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download from AppInChina

Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.