Pursuing Well-Being Among Rural-Dwelling Adults With Disabilities

Wellness in children's rehabilitation - what does it mean?

PURPOSE

Rehabilitation research on wellness promotion for children and youth with disabilities is limited and tends to narrowly focus on physical aspects of health. An overarching sense of wellness includes multiple, overlapping dimensions (e.g., physical, social, emotional, occupational). This study's main objectives were to explore what wellness means for young people with disabilities, and what contributes to their sense of wellness.

METHODS

A qualitative design involving World Café-style focus groups was used to explore the perspectives of youth with disabilities (14-25 years old, n = 3), parents (n = 6) and healthcare providers (n = 10) on how wellness is understood and addressed at a Canadian children's rehabilitation hospital. Themes were identified through an inductive analysis of focus group transcripts and notes written by participants and research team members.

RESULTS

Having a variety of relationships and social connections, meaningful activity opportunities, becoming as independent as possible, and having stable medical health contributed to wellness for young people with disabilities.

CONCLUSIONS

Rehabilitation care can promote wellness by co-creating personalized care pathways across multiple wellness dimensions with young people with disabilities and their families, focusing on strengths rather than deficits, and improving access to a variety of activities and communities.IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONRehabilitation professionals in children's rehabilitation have unique, ongoing opportunities to promote and support wellness with young people with disabilities and their families.Rehabilitation professionals can embed personalized, strengths-focused wellness pathways across multiple dimensions into the care of children with disabilities.Helping children and families address barriers to meaningful activities and promoting social connections can foster an overarching sense of wellness.

A Scoping Literature Review of Rural Beliefs and Attitudes toward Telehealth Utilization

The purpose of this scoping literature review was to understand what is known about how the rural profile influences beliefs regarding telehealth utilization. Rural nursing theory (RNT) provided a framework for the review. Search criteria were limited to peer-reviewed studies conducted in Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. A variety of search terms related to patient telehealth perceptions generated 213 unique articles, of which 10 met the inclusion criteria. Included studies incorporated qualitative methodologies and were from Australia, Canada, Sweden, or the United States. The review highlighted four themes related to the rural profile's influence on telehealth beliefs: importance of familiar relationships, concerns with privacy and confidentiality, acceptance of limited access to care, and resourcefulness and frugality. These themes echo concepts within RNT. Nurses and other health professionals must acknowledge the rural profile's influence on a person's decision to use telehealth in order to provide optimal care.

Being Uncertain: Rural-Living Cardiac Patients' Experience of Seeking Health Care

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Secondary prevention strategies reduce disease progression to heart failure. Rural cardiac patients typically have less access to health care resources to support them in managing secondary prevention, and services to improve quality of life tend to be lacking in rural settings. The study aim was to examine the process that rural cardiac patients go through to access health care and cardiac rehabilitation (CR) following myocardial infarction (MI). In-depth interviews with 11 post-MI participants using Straussian grounded theory were undertaken. Analysis revealed a linear process from hospital discharge to maintaining health. There were five elements: comfort with health information, relationship with health care providers, social support, taking ownership, and availability of/for CR. The core category was "being uncertain." Findings can be used to identify ways to improve access and address uncertainty stemming from a lack of perceived information and supports following discharge.