Improving the Management
of Enduring Conditions
The Programme
Chronic health problems greatly impact on people’s lives and place enormous demands on health resources. Many of these conditions are without cure and some may be affected by the environment in which people live and work.
Examples include cardiovascular problems, obesity, cancer, and mental health. The management of these conditions is extremely complex. Prevention is better than cure and therefore preventing their occurrence in the first instance should be considered. Often, however, this is not possible and thus minimising the affects of these conditions becomes important.
Viewed in this way chronic health problems can be managed using different approaches. These include public health interventions, which typically focus on helping to prevent the occurrence, or reoccurrence, of chronic illnesses, to the more traditional perspective of management which involves intervention by healthcare services.
Areas of interest
The central theme of this programme is how enduring conditions are best managed. It identifies how interventions work and ultimately how they might improve health. The emphasis is on non-medical interventions such as those which seek to alter the social and cultural conditions that give rise to, or worsen, health.
It includes interventions that fall within the scope of nursing, midwifery and the allied health professions such as encouraging people to adopt a healthy life-style, achieve mental well-being, work with patients and their families to maximise health, and help people cope with chronic illness when it occurs.
Programme Lead
Professor Lawrie Elliott is the programme lead for Improving the Management of Enduring Conditions and is based at Napier University.
CIHR Funded Postdoctoral Fellowship
Dr Janet Hanley has been appointed by CIHR as a Postdoctoral Fellow under the Improving the Management of Enduring Conditions programme.
Current and completed projects:
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Evaluation of Healthy Respect Phase 2 (Funded by Health Scotland, £670,000. 2005-2009)
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Understanding public health policy: learning from international comparisons (Phase II) (Funded by NHS Health Scotland. £250,000. 2004-2007)
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Meeting the needs of carers of people diagnosed with schizophrenia: A randomised control study of a nurse support intervention. (Funded by Big Lottery Fund £185,000 2003-2006)
For further information on the projects or for a full list of research projects funded under this programme please contact us