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'They're all individuals, none of them are on the same boat': barriers to weight management in general practice from the rural nurse perspective.
- Source :
- Primary Health Care Research & Development; 2023, Vol. 24, p1-8, 8p
- Publication Year :
- 2023
-
Abstract
- Aim: To explore nurses' experiences with, and barriers to, obesity healthcare in rural general practice. Background: Obesity is a significant health risk worldwide, which can lead to many other physical and psychosocial health issues that contribute to a poor quality of life. Primary care is considered the most suitable context to deliver obesity management healthcare across the world, including New Zealand, which reportedly has 34% of all adults (and 51% Indigenous Māori) classed as obese. Nurses in primary care have a significant role in the multidisciplinary team and deliver obesity healthcare in general practice contexts. Yet, there is little focus on the nurse perspective of weight management, specifically in rural areas where medical staff and resources are limited, and obesity rates are high. Methods: This was a qualitative research design. Semi-structured interviews with 10 rural nurses from indigenous and non-indigenous health providers were analyzed guided by Braun and Clarke (2006) approach to thematic analysis. Findings: Three themes were identified: limitations of a nurse role; patient-level barriers; and cultural barriers. Nurses reported experiencing significant barriers to delivering effective weight management in their practice due to factors outside the scope of their practice such as patient-level factors, social determinants of health, rural locality restrictions, and limitations to their role. While this study highlights that practice nurses are versatile with an invaluable skill repertoire, it also demonstrates the near impossibility for rural nurses to meet their rural patient's complex weight management needs, as there are many social determinants of health, sociocultural, and rural locality factors acting as barriers to effective weight management. Nurses experienced a lack of systemic support in the form of time, resources, funding, and effective weight management referral options. Future investigation should look to address the unique rural weight management healthcare needs that experience many barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- OBESITY risk factors
PREVENTION of obesity
REGULATION of body weight
HEALTH services accessibility
NURSES' attitudes
SOCIAL determinants of health
FAMILY medicine
RESEARCH methodology
RURAL nurses
INTERVIEWING
RISK assessment
PRIMARY health care
QUALITATIVE research
QUALITY of life
DESCRIPTIVE statistics
HEALTH care teams
RESEARCH funding
THEMATIC analysis
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 14634236
- Volume :
- 24
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Primary Health Care Research & Development
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 174896047
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1017/S1463423623000439