Self-Care Experiences and Support Needs of Community-Dwelling Older Adults With Multimorbidity: A Qualitative Study Informed by the Caring Life-Course Theory.
Michael T Lawless, Caitlin Wyman, Maria Alejandra Pinero de Plaza and 5 others
PMID 41947284WHAT IT FOUND
Eighteen older adults with multimorbidity said self-care was learned through trial and error, not clinic education.
They felt emotional needs were overlooked in healthcare and relied on family, peers and online groups.
Key findings
01Self-care was learned through lived experience, transitions and trial and error rather than structured education in healthcare settings.
02Psychosocial and relational needs were often not addressed in healthcare encounters and were sustained through informal networks.
03Sustaining self-care depended on accessible information, continuity, planning ahead and responsive systems.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only 18 people were interviewed, and the sample was small for transferability. Most participants were women, highly educated and from socio-economically advantaged postcodes, so the findings may not reflect men, culturally and linguistically diverse groups or people with fewer resources. Chronic conditions were self-reported and not verified by a healthcare provider. The study was qualitative, so it describes experiences and support needs rather than showing that any support model works.
Declared interests
The study was supported by the Caring Futures Institute at Flinders University, and the authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat these themes as proof that a self-care support programme works or that all older adults with multimorbidity experience the same gaps. They describe what 18 mostly highly educated Australian participants said, and the study did not test an intervention or outcome.