Ann Van Hecke

Ann Van Hecke
Ghent University | UGhent · Department of Public Health, University Centre for Nursing and Midiwifery

PhD

About

343
Publications
106,148
Reads
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7,441
Citations
Introduction
Her research mainly focuses on self-management / (medication) adherence / communication in patients with a chronic illness / cancer.
Additional affiliations
July 2012 - July 2017
Ghent University
Position
  • Professor
October 2010 - present
Universitair Ziekenhuis Ghent
Position
  • Staff member Nursing
October 2005 - July 2016
Ghent University
Position
  • Professor (Assistant)

Publications

Publications (343)
Article
Full-text available
Self-management is important for people coping with chronic diseases. The self-determination theory (SDT) emphasizes the role of healthcare professionals’ (HCPs) (de)motivating interaction styles in either supporting or thwarting patients’ self-management behavior. Since developing (de)motivating interaction styles starts during education, this stu...
Article
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Introduction Medical screening is a major driver of overdiagnosis, which should be considered when making an informed screening decision. Health professionals (HPs) often initiate screening and are therefore responsible for informing eligible screening participants about the benefits and harms of screening. However, little is known about HPs’ knowl...
Article
Full-text available
In this unblinded multi-center stepped-wedge randomized controlled trial the effectiveness of the nurse-led ZENN-intervention was tested in promoting self-management skills in comparison to standard care among heart, lung and kidney transplant recipients. This intervention is based on behaviour change theories and was conducted in four sessions ove...
Article
Purpose: Chronic pain is prevalent among breast cancer survivors. Bio-psychosocial factors interplay in its exacerbation and maintenance. Therefore, prevention and treatment require an interdisciplinary response and the integration of various approaches. To deliver this way of working, healthcare professionals may need training. We developed an e-...
Article
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Background The policy shift towards person-centred integrated primary care systems drives interest in primary care across higher education programs. In Flanders, the Primary Care Academy (PCA) is established to support this policy shift. The PCA focusses on the concepts of goal-oriented care, self-management, and interprofessional collaboration to...
Article
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Mental health patients are increasingly invited to participate in multidisciplinary team meetings during their admission to inpa-tient mental health units. To participate effectively, patients must adopt a role that enables them to actively engage and take their place as contributing member of the team. This study aims to understand how mental heal...
Article
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Introduction The lack of evidence of mental health patients' perception on patient participation in multidisciplinary team meetings (MTMs) is a potential threat to the person‐centeredness of care. Aim To explore the perceptions of mental health patients regarding patient participation in MTMs and to identify factors associated with these perceptio...
Article
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Aims To explore patterns and dynamics during the co‐design process of nurse practitioners' role development in three departments in a Belgian tertiary hospital. Design Participatory action research was utilised in conjunction with principles of a Grounded Theory approach to explore patterns and dynamics. Methods Sixteen meetings were conducted be...
Article
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Background Self-management of a chronic condition is a complex but increasingly important issue. However, a supportive attitude and behaviour among healthcare professionals is hampered by a lack of awareness, knowledge and motivation. In addition, the role of professionals in supporting self-management seems unclear. Methods A blended learning pro...
Article
Interprofessional communication is crucial for patient care, yet there is a dearth of comprehensive assessment tools essential to train and assess healthcare students. While the Interprofessional Educational Collaborative framework (IPEC) outlines eight sub-competencies, it lacks detailed behavioral indicators. This study aimed to create a reposito...
Article
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Introduction There is a lack of distinct and measurable outcomes in psychiatric and/or mental health nursing which negatively impacts guiding clinical practice, assessing evidence-based nursing interventions, ensuring future-proof nursing education and establishing visibility as a profession and discipline. Psychiatric and/or mental health nursing...
Article
Rationale In the Collaborative Network To Take Responsibility for Oral Anticancer Therapy (CONTACT) project, an evidence‐based and patient‐centred care(PCC) pathway was implemented in 12 oncology departments in Flanders. The care pathway was developed in cocreation by an interdisciplinary project team, and tailored to the local hospital context. A...
Article
Full-text available
In mental health care settings, inpatients are increasingly engaged in their care process, allowing them to participate in multidisciplinary team meetings. Research into how mental health patients experience participating in such meetings is, however, limited. This study aimed to explore inpatients’ experiences when participating in multidisciplina...
Article
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Aims The aim of the study was to develop a comprehensive competency framework for advanced practice nurses in Belgium. Design A co‐design development process was conducted. Methods This study consisted of two consecutive stages (November 2020–December 2021): (1) developing a competency framework for advanced practice nurses in Belgium by the rese...
Article
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Background During adolescence, adolescents and young adults (AYAs) are expected to transfer their care from the pediatric environment towards an adult-focused setting. To prevent an abrupt transfer of care, it is recommended to provide AYAs with chronic conditions an adequate transition program. The aim of this paper is to describe the study protoc...
Article
Full-text available
Background To support self-management of chronically ill persons, innovative approaches of care practice are being developed. Unfortunately, many self-management supporting interventions struggle to achieve reliable and consistent improvements at various levels (patient, provider and healthcare system level). One possible strategy to facilitate tra...
Article
Full-text available
Background: Due to the emergence of oral anticancer drugs (OACD), changes in traditional roles and responsibilities of healthcare professionals (HCPs) in oncology and re-organization of current care processes are needed. Moreover, considering the ambulatory character of OACD, involvement of primary care HCPs seems crucial. Ten Belgian hospitals par...
Preprint
Full-text available
Background: Self-management of a chronic condition is a complex but increasingly important issue. However, a supportive attitude and behaviour among healthcare professionals is hampered by a lack of awareness, knowledge and motivation. In addition, the role of professionals in supporting self-management seems unclear. Methods: A blended learning pr...
Article
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Aims (1) To identify, evaluate and summarize evidence about the objectives and characteristics of mentoring programmes for specialized nurses (SNs) or nurse navigators (NNs) and advanced practice nurses (APNs) and (2) to identify the effectiveness of these programmes. Design A systematic review based on PRISMA guidelines. Data Sources From Novemb...
Article
Background Patients have an important role in the improvement of their health. Patient participation is a key component to achieving this. Some form of patient participation is already present in home care, but this needs to be optimised. Aim Gaining insight into the expectations, experiences and needs of patients regarding patient participation i...
Article
Living with a chronic illness requires individuals to perform a critical role in self-managing their illness to improve their quality of life and prevent disease-related complications. To our knowledge, no studies have explored how individuals perceive managing their illness in daily living within the Asian context. This exploratory-descriptive qua...
Article
Full-text available
Objective During autonomy-supportive consultations, professionals use a need-supportive interaction style to facilitate patients' self-regulated behaviour. To improve maternity care professionals' need-supportive interactions, it is important to provide insights into their interaction style. No tool is currently available for measuring need-support...
Article
DOEL: Het doel van dit onderzoek was om de differentiatie tussen verpleegkundige expertfuncties in kaart te brengen, dit met een focus op verpleegkundig specialisten en verpleegkundig consulenten vanuit het perspectief van interprofessionele zorgteams in een Vlaamse ziekenhuiscontext. METHODE: Aan de hand van doelgerichte steekproeftrekking werden...
Article
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Objective: To develop and evaluate a tool to inform and empower nursing home (NH) residents and informal caregivers regarding the medicines' pathway. Methods: Feedback on the tool's text, drafted by the research team, was collected from a professional organization; the lay-out was designed by an illustrator. The tool was pilot tested in NHs, foc...
Article
Background: Although support is needed, no method exists to elicit and integrate personal goals into medication optimization interventions for nursing home residents. Aim: To develop and evaluate a tool to (1) elicit and evaluate residents' personal goals during medication optimization, and (2) elicit involvement preferences regarding medication...
Article
Accessible Summary What is already known? The nurse–patient relationship in mental health care is an important focus of mental health nursing theories and research. There is limited evidence about which factors influence nurse‐sensitive patient outcomes of the nurse–patient relationship. This hinders the development, planning, delivering, and qual...
Article
Objective: To develop a self-management instrument for organ transplant recipients that incorporates self-regulations skills and to determine its measurement properties. Methods: The instrument includes concepts from social cognitive models: problem awareness, attitude, self-efficacy, motivation, social support, goal setting, goal pursuit, skill...
Article
Full-text available
Objective: To provide an overview of types and characteristics of self-management support (SMS) interventions in adults with chronic disease and to assess the impact on the patient reported outcome Quality of Life (QoL). Methods: An umbrella review of systematic reviews was conducted. We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, CINAHL and the Co...
Article
Objective: In this multicenter cross-sectional study, the quality of patient-centered education and counseling for patients treated with oral anticancer drugs was examined. Methods: The CONTACT-Patient-Centered Care Questionnaire was administered to 266 patients, recruited in 11 Flemish hospitals. The questionnaire consists of 80 items, each eva...
Article
Purpose: To provide in-depth insight in stakeholders' experiences with the self-directed co-creation of a care pathway for patients treated with oral anticancer drugs, and to identify influencing factors for the success of the co-creation process that are persistent throughout the prior pilot phase and the scale-up phase. Methods: This qualitati...
Article
Full-text available
Background: Information on how residents and their informal caregivers are involved in the medicines' pathway in nursing homes is scarce. Likewise, it is not known how they would prefer to be involved therein. Methods: A generic qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with 17 residents and 10 informal caregivers from four nursing home...
Article
Full-text available
Introduction Due to the increased prevalence of chronic conditions, multimorbidity and an increased complexity of care, the burden on healthcare teams is high resulting in unmet needs of patients and their family and a high workload on healthcare professionals. To respond to these challenges, care models integrating nurse practitioners were introdu...
Preprint
Full-text available
Background: To support self-management of chronically ill persons, innovative approaches of care practice are being developed. Unfortunately, many self-management supporting interventions struggle to achieve reliable and consistent improvements at various levels (patient, provider and healthcare system level). One possible strategy to facilitate tr...
Article
Rationale: Due to the emergence of oral anticancer therapies, existing care processes in oncology - that are mainly focused on in-hospital treatments - must be rethought. The development of a care pathway is a well-known methodology to reorganise and standardise care for a specific patient group. However, care pathway development might be complex...
Preprint
Full-text available
Purpose In the Collaborative Network To Take Responsibility for Oral Anticancer Therapy (CONTACT) project, an evidence-based and patient-centered care pathway was implemented in 12 oncology departments in Flanders. The care pathway was developed in co-creation by an interdisciplinary project team, and tailored to the local hospital context. In this...
Article
Introduction: Identifying patient-reported outcomes of the nurse-patient relationship is a priority in inpatient mental healthcare to guide clinical decision-making and quality improvement initiatives. Moreover, demonstrating nurse-sensitive patient outcomes can be a strategy to avoid further erosion of the specialism of psychiatric and/or mental...
Article
Full-text available
Background To address the many challenges health systems and communities face, primary care is constantly searching for new strategies to improve quality of care. One of the strategies is to focus on patients’ personal goals to direct the care process. To adopt an explicit focus on patients’ personal goals, actions at different levels are required....
Article
Background: Several European countries are reforming their mental healthcare program. This implies an increase of pressure on outpatient care and also in Flanders are waiting times long in the outpatient care and patients don’t receive timely care. Hitherto, a nursing consultation in mental health care is a fairly new concept of care. Aim: To ex...
Article
Aims: Exploring the persisting presence of underlying processes, dynamics, experienced barriers and facilitators of Advanced Practice Nurses (APN) in oncology and Oncology Nurse Navigators (ONN) during their role integration in an interprofessional team over a research period of seven years. Design: A qualitative study based on the principles of G...
Article
Objective: Pain is prevalent among breast cancer survivors and can persist for years, impeding quality of life. Both prevention and pain treatment are important. However, this requires an interdisciplinary approach and complex models of care. We report on the design and implementation of an intervention that follows a step-wise care model, aimed a...
Article
Aim To evaluate the process and outcomes of INTENSS, a training intervention grounded in Self-Determination Theory to enhance nurses’ competencies for self-management support. Design Non-randomized intervention study with mixed-methods evaluation approach (2019-2020). Methods The multifaceted training was implemented in six groups. Cluster-assign...
Article
Full-text available
Introduction: Overdiagnosis is the diagnosis of a disease that would never have caused any symptom or problem. It is a harmful side effect of screening and may lead to unnecessary treatment, costs and emotional drawbacks. Doctors and other healthcare professionals (HCPs) have the opportunity to mitigate these consequences, not only by informing th...
Article
Purpose To investigate factors affecting the cocreation and implementation of care pathways for patients treated with oral anticancer drugs. Methods An explorative qualitative process evaluation was performed at four Belgian hospitals, cocreating and implementing a care pathway for patients on oral anticancer drugs. Semistructured interviews and f...
Article
Full-text available
The COVID-19 pandemic has posed tremendous challenges to healthcare systems. Care for oncology patients, a vulnerable population during the pandemic, was disrupted and drastically changed. A multicenter qualitative study was conducted in 11 Belgian hospitals with the aim to provide an overview of the most important changes that were made in the car...
Article
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Aims To provide in‐depth insight into how patients and their relatives experienced change or delay in cancer treatment and care due to COVID‐19. Design A qualitative study including semi‐structured interviews with patients with cancer and their relatives. Methods Between July and October 2020, 42 patients who were confronted with a change or dela...
Article
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BACKGROUND Emerging evidence shows a positive impact of physical activity (PA) on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in cancer patients. However, longitudinal evidence on PA and HRQoL in patients with bladder cancer (BC) undergoing radical cystectomy (RC) is lacking. OBJECTIVES To investigate PA levels, HRQoL outcomes and their relationship fr...
Article
Full-text available
Background The prevention and treatment of chronic pain problems in breast cancer follow-up care require an adequate response from healthcare providers. Generally, this involves the uptake of evidence-based principles regarding pain management in everyday practice. However, despite the extensive literature on effective pain interventions, systemati...
Article
Aim To explore the perception of mental healthcare workers about participation of inpatients during multidisciplinary team meetings (MTMs) and to determine which demographic and contextual factors are associated with this perception. Methods A cross-sectional multicentre study in 17 psychiatric hospitals with 701 mental healthcare workers was perf...
Article
Objective: Instruments to measure quality of patient-centred care (PCC) for the rapidly growing population of patients treated with oral anticancer drugs (OACD) are lacking. The aim of this study was to develop a valid and reliable instrument to assess PCC in the context of OACD. Methods: The CONTACT-Patient-Centred Care Questionnaire (CONTACT-P...
Article
Patient participation: identifying gaps in the communication between patients and healthcare professionals Background. Patient participation is a current topic in healthcare. Communication between healthcare professionals and patients during hospitalization is one of the most important aspects that contributes to its application and stimulation. Ai...
Article
Objective This scoping review aimed to identify patient goal elicitation and evaluation methods for older adults, and to investigate which methods can be used in medication optimization interventions for nursing home residents (NHRs). Methods The Arksey and O’Malley framework guided the review. A search was launched in PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, and...
Conference Paper
Objectives Doctors and other health care professionals (HCPs) involved in screening play a key role in informing their patients and the public about the risk of overdiagnosis as one of the main harms of screening. Moreover, they have a considerable influence on the societal narrative about screening, which to date seems to be dominated by the messa...
Article
Aim: Many patients are confronted with low anterior resection syndrome after rectal surgery. The perspectives of both healthcare professionals and patients on the impact of bowel problems may differ. This study aimed to explore experiences of healthcare professionals on how to provide, organise and optimise care for patients with low anterior rese...
Article
Purpose After treatment, many rectal cancer survivors are confronted with ongoing bowel problems, called low anterior resection syndrome. The cancer diagnosis and treatment poses a burden on informal caregivers and results in higher levels of psychological distress and loneliness which is persistent after treatment as well. Our study aimed to inves...
Article
Full-text available
Background Coping with a chronic disease can be really challenging. Self-management represents a promising strategy to improve daily life experiences. The role of primary healthcare professionals cannot be underestimated in supporting self-management. Due to a shortage of theory, implementation of self-management support is hindered in primary care...
Article
Full-text available
Background: In times of COVID-19, we are challenged to experiment with alternative platforms or software to connect people. In particular, the struggle that arose in health research was how to interact with patients and care professionals. The latter is additionally faced with an extreme workload to fight the pandemic crisis. Creative strategies ha...
Preprint
BACKGROUND There is an exponential growth in the availability of mobile Health (mHealth) applications, resulting in increased use of pregnancy apps. However, the actual use, experience, and characteristics of women using pregnancy apps are relatively unknown. OBJECTIVE To map the current use of the Internet and mobile applications and the needs an...
Article
Full-text available
Background: There has been an exponential growth in the availability of apps, resulting in increased use of pregnancy apps. However, information on resources and use of apps among pregnant women is relatively limited. Objective: The aim of this study is to map the current information resources and the use of pregnancy apps among pregnant women i...