Sandra L Bradley

Use of advance directives by South Australians: results from the Health Omnibus Survey Spring 2012

Objective: To determine the prevalence of completion of advance directives (ADs) and wills by South Australians aged 15 years and over.

Systematic review of the types of methods and approaches used to assess the effectiveness of healthcare information websites

The aim of this systematic review was to identify types of approaches and methods used to evaluate the effectiveness of healthcare information websites. Simple usage data may not be sufficient to assess whether desired healthcare outcomes were achieved or to determine the relative effectiveness of different web resources on the same health topic. To establish the state of the knowledge base on assessment methods used to determine the effectiveness of healthcare websites, a structured search of the literature was conducted in Ovid Medline, resulting in the retrieval of 1611 articles, of which 240 met the inclusion criteria for the present review. The present review found that diverse evaluation methods were used to measure the effectiveness of healthcare websites. These evaluation methods were used during development, before release and after release. Economic assessment was rare and most evaluations looked at content issues, such as readability scores. Several studies did try to assess the usefulness of websites, but few studies looked at behaviour change or knowledge transfer following engagement with the designated health website. To assess the effectiveness of the knowledge transfer of healthcare information through the online environment, multiple methods may need to be used to evaluate healthcare websites and may need to be undertaken at all stages of the website development process.

Reenacted Case Scenarios for Undergraduate Healthcare Students to Illustrate Person-Centered Care in Dementia.

Healthcare practitioners have suggested that interpreting person-centered care for people who have dementia to undergraduate students requires guidance in practical application. This article describes the production of a written and digital interdisciplinary educational resource for tertiary students. It uses real-life case scenarios provided by healthcare practitioners to illustrate person-centered care in practice with people who have dementia. The resource provides students with the theoretical underpinning of person-centered care and dementia as well as reflective questions that relate to the reenacted case scenarios to guide their application of this theory in practice.

South Australian baby boomer advance care directive decision-making: CGT study of factors influencing ACD completion

The originality of this research resides in investigation of a specific demographic group who are younger, healthier and not the target of advance care planning programs. Significance and timeliness of this research coincides with the release of a National Advance Care Directive Framework in Australia to assist with facilitation of completion and implementation of these instruments on a national and state level. Factors that influenced participants in this research to contemplate completion of (ACDs) were investigated in the context of South Australian ACDs and the SA healthcare environment. Research was conducted using classical grounded theory. Participants contemplated ACDs in three non-linear stages. These stages were: contemplation of knowledge; contemplation of relationships; and contemplation of actions/inactions of ACD decision-making that should result. Factors influencing these stages unique to these Boomer participants were their awareness of quality of life with dementia; guidance and protection of children acting as substitute decision-makers (SDM); and the difficulty in choosing a SDM. Many of these factors were gained through experiences with others. Of the seven participants in this study, only half had completed ACDs for themselves. Factors which inhibited completion included time, accessibility and lack of a professional for discussion of ACDs.