Ercole Vellone

University of Rome Tor Vergata | UNIROMA2 · Department of Biomedicine and Prevention

INTRODUCTION: Stroke is the most common cause of adult disability and has a significant impact on the quality of life(QOL) of survivors and caregivers.It is important to implement a tailored intervention that could improve caregiver preparedness for the transition home after a stroke.A patient-and caregiver-centred educational approach,which direct...

Background. Previous research has shown that patients with ostomy frequently exhibit a low health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Self-care is a key element that influences their HRQoL. However, the evidence regarding the relationship between these two constructs in patients with ostomy is still not clear. Materials and Methods. This was a seconda...

Aim To examine the association between mutuality and quality of life in nurse–patient dyads. Design A cross‐sectional multi‐centre study was conducted. Methods The study was conducted in five tertiary hospitals in Italy. We enrol both inpatients and outpatients with chronic diseases and their nurses with a convenience sampling. One‐hundred ninety...

Aims This study aims to describe disease‐specific self‐care behaviours in patients with heart failure (HF), diabetes mellitus (DM) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in various combinations; to compare these self‐care behaviours within patient groups; and to evaluate differences across these groups. Design Cross‐sectional study. Met...

Background: In recent years, there has been an exponential increase in attention paid to the patient-reported outcome of self-care. Many investigators have used one of the families of self-care instruments freely available on the website www.self-care-measures.com. These self-care measures have been translated into many languages, which are also a...

Background: People affected by heart failure (HF) often exhibit a poor health status, which places a great deal of burden on the healthcare systems. The Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ) 23 is the most used tool to measure the health status in this population; however, its psychometric properties have not been thoroughly established.O...

Background: stroke is a major cause of disability and death, globally. Many stroke survivors live with disabilities, requiring significant caregiving support. Caregivers often feel unprepared and burdened, experiencing isolation and health declines. Their well-being and involvement in discharge planning impact post-discharge care quality. Purpose:...

Background In the last two decades, the use of oral anticancer agents (OAAs) has increased in cancer patients. Despite this, patients and their caregivers face some challenging issues (side effects, drug-to-drug interactions, etc.) related to OAA administration. The three dimensions of self-care by Riegel et al., self-care maintenance (i.e., stabil...

Despite the importance of social support in ostomy care, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) does not appear to be validated in the context of ostomy care. This study evaluated the psychometric characteristics of MSPSS in ostomy patients and their informal caregivers. The MSPSS was tested in a sample of 775 participants w...

The increase in life expectancy and an aging demographic have led to a surge in chronic diseases, presenting substantial challenges to healthcare systems worldwide. Chronic conditions are characterized by their long-term nature, recurrence and incurability, necessitating effective management strategies. This paper aims to explore the concept of sel...

Aims To identify the current presence of stereotypes about the nursing profession in Italy and to understand how gendered processes and modalities are regulated and expressed in the physician‐nurse dyad, and the implications for professional identity and autonomy. Design Qualitative multimethod design. Methods Forty‐five interviews were conducted...

Aims To describe and compare generic and disease‐specific self‐care measures in patients with multiple chronic conditions (MCCs) in the three dimensions of self‐care maintenance, monitoring, and management. Design Multicentre cross‐sectional study. Methods Patients aged 65 and over with MCCs. We used Self‐Care of Chronic Illness Inventory to meas...

Introduction Supporting patient self-care and the contribution of their caregivers is crucial in chronic illness care. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic condition whose prevalence is expected to double, especially in Western countries. IBD symptoms can negatively impact patients’ well-being, causing high anxiety, depression, stress and...

Aim Describe and compare generic and disease‐specific caregiver contribution (CC) to self‐care behaviours in the dimensions of self‐care maintenance, self‐care monitoring and self‐care management in multiple chronic conditions (MCCs). Design Multicentre cross‐sectional study. Methods We enrolled caregivers of patients with MCC, from April 2017 to...

Introduction Postoperative patients with ostomies experience significant changes in their lives as a result of the device implantation. Self-care is important to improve their health outcomes. Telehealth provides an opportunity to expand access to self-care education. Aim This is a multicenter, non-inferiority randomized, open-label, controlled tr...

INTRODUZIONE: Negli ultimi due decenni, nei pazienti oncologici è aumentato l’utilizzo di antitumorali orali (OAA). Gli OAA sono un'alternativa efficace ai tradizionali trattamenti endovenosi e hanno diversi vantaggi (es. riduzione dello stress legato al trattamento, maggiore flessibilità del trattamento). Nonostante i vantaggi degli OAA, i pazient...

Objective To describe self‐care in Italian adults with coronary heart disease and to identify sociodemographic and clinical determinants of self‐care. Design This is a cross‐sectional analysis of data from the Italian multicentre longitudinal study. Methods We used the follow instruments: Self‐Care of coronary heart disease inventory, Self‐care S...

Refugees and asylum seekers bring with them a plurality of cultures, traditions, and values that could prove crucial in influencing perceived health needs, requests for intervention, or willingness to undergo specific health treatments. Although studies have focused on the health consequences of forced migration, in recent years, there has been a l...

Aims Injectable medicines such as PCSK9 inhibitors are increasingly used to manage risk factors for cardiovascular events with little information around the perceptions of healthcare professionals (HCPs) on the administrative and clinical practicalities. The aim was to identify the facilitators and barriers on the use of injectable therapies with c...

Background COPD can affect both men and women leading to deteriorating impact on general well-being, personal, and family life and decreased quality of life. Anxiety, depression, and self-care behaviours can affect the quality of life of individuals with COPD. There is a dearth of sex-based comparative analyses of anxiety, depression, quality of li...

Background Caregivers are important contributors to the self-care of patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). Aims The aims of this study are to describe the development and psychometric properties of the caregiver contribution to self-care of coronary heart disease inventory (CC-SC-CHDI). Methods The CC-SC-CHDI was developed from the patient...

Aim: To examine the role of nurse-patient mutuality on three self-care behaviours in chronic illness patients. Design: A cross-sectional multi-centre study was conducted. Methods: Mutuality was measured with the Nurse-Patient Mutuality in Chronic Illness scale which has the dimensions of developing and going beyond, being a point of reference...

Background: Post-intensive care syndrome (PICS) is characterized by all three adverse survivorship dimensions: physical function, cognitive function and mental health status. Aim: This review aimed to describe the quality of life (QoL) of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) survivors with PICS after discharge and of their relatives with Family Post- intensiv...

The knowledge of variables associated with quality of life in women with nonvertebral fractures is poor. The aim of this study was to examine the independent associations between sociodemographic and clinical factors, self-care, and quality of life in this specific population. We undertook a 3-year multicenter longitudinal study on a cohort of Ital...

Aim To examine studies involving the impact of telerehabilitation (TLR), tele‐training and tele‐support on the dyad stroke survivor and caregiver in relation to psychological, physical, social and health dimensions. Design A systematic review was conducted. Data Sources The following electronic databases were consulted until September 2023: PsycI...

Although several studies have analyzed the effects of spirituality on stroke survivors’ physical functioning and their caregiver’s outcomes, no systematic review or meta-synthesis was found to identify the lived experiences of stroke survivors and caregivers regarding spirituality. For these reasons, this study aimed to analyze quantitively and qua...

Self-care plays a critical role in symptom recognition, management, and risk factor modification for patients with chronic illnesses. Despite its significance, self-care levels in this population are generally poor. Health literacy (HL) is pivotal for promoting effective self-care, yet the association across specific chronic illnesses remains fragm...

Background Patients with heart failure may experience poor quality of life due to a variety of physical and psychological symptoms. Quality of life can improve if patients adhere to consistent self-care behaviors. Patient outcomes (i.e., quality of life) are thought to improve as a result of caregiver contribution to self-care. However, uncertainty...

Background and Aim Mutuality is a process in which the patient participates and is involved in decision‐making and care interventions. The aim of this study was to measure mutuality in the relationship between nurses and chronic illness patients. Methods This study had a cross‐sectional design; the sample included 249 patients and 249 nurses. Mutu...

(1) Background: Older patients who attend emergency departments are frailer than younger patients and are at a high risk of adverse outcomes; (2) Methods: To conduct this systematic review, we adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Guidelines. We systematically searched literature from PubMed, Emb...

Objectives This research aims to explore the perceptions of nursing students and directors of bachelor of nursing degree courses regarding reasons for attrition amongst nursing students. Methods A qualitative descriptive study was conducted using inductive thematic analysis. The study included a purposeful sample of 12 students and 4 directors of...

Background: The success of post-stroke rehabilitation depends on the cooperation of many components such as: severity of the stroke, speed with which treatment begins, skills of the rehabilitation team, cooperation of the survivor with family and friends. Telerehabilitation (TLR) involves home rehabilitation with a nurse or physician, who evaluates...

Aim To catch a representative view of a multicultural population's needs. Design Qualitative study. Methods Semi‐structured interviews were conducted from July 2022 to January 2023 with the project's stakeholders, migrants, and residents. Data analysis was performed using a multimethod textual analysis technique. Findings Territorial barriers, l...

Aims This study aims to (i) test the validity and reliability of the Care Dependency Scale (CDS) for patients with heart failure (HF) and (ii) test the validity and reliability of the proxy version of the CDS assessing informal caregivers’ perception of the dependency level of individuals with HF. Methods and results Secondary data analysis was co...

Aim This paper describes the trajectory during 1 year of four patient‐reported outcomes (PROs), namely, sleep, depressive symptoms, health‐related quality of life (HrQoL), and well‐being, in patients with heart failure (HF), their relationship and the patient characteristics associated with changes in these PROs. Methods and results Data analyses...

Background Implicit rationing of nursing care refers to a situation in which necessary nursing care is not performed to meet all of the patients’ needs. Purpose To examine the factors influencing the rationing of nursing care, nurses’ assessment of the quality of patient care, and their job satisfaction in Internal Medicine Departments. Methods A...

Background. Caregivers are crucial in ensuring that their relatives with heart failure (HF) reach proper self-care levels. Despite this, the demanding nature of caring for others can lead to poor outcomes and the compromise of own needs, which raises the need for perceived social support. Prior research does not offer a thorough knowledge of how ca...

Purpose: To describe which needs and difficulties are experienced by stroke patients and caregivers regarding their return to work and to synthesise the lived experiences of stroke patients and caregivers. Materials and methods: A systematic review and metasynthesis was conducted on PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Sciences and PsycInfo, in accord...

Aims To develop a comprehensive understanding of caregiver burden and its predictors from a dyadic perspective. Method A convergent mixed methods design was used. This study was conducted in three European countries, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands. A sample of 229 HF patients and caregivers was enrolled between February 2017 and December 2018 f...

Introduction: Patients with heart failure (HF) experience high symptom burden that can be mitigated with adequate self-care. The situation-specific theory of caregiver contribution to HF self-care suggests that caregivers have a key role in improving patient symptom burden. Hypothesis: a) caregiver contribution to self-care influences patient self-...

Aim Patients with heart failure experience multiple co‐occurring symptoms that lower their quality of life and increase hospitalization and mortality rates. So far, no heart failure symptom cluster study recruited patients from community settings or focused on symptoms predicting most clinical outcomes. Considering physical and psychological sympto...

Introduction The promotion of self-care has begun to serve as a central response strategy to the rising burden of stroke. In fact, stroke self-care can be recognised to be a dyad phenomenon having an effect on the health of stroke survivors and their caregivers. While studies have confirmed the effectiveness of smartphone-based interventions in imp...

Background: Informal caregivers contribute substantially to the self-care of people with heart failure (HF) by helping with concrete and interpersonal tasks. Time perception and management are essential issues among caregivers. However, investigators have not explored this topic in caregivers of people with HF. Objectives: The aim of this study...

Background: Patients with heart failure experience high symptom burden, which can be mitigated with adequate self-care. Caregiver contribution to self-care has been theorized to improve patient symptom burden. The mediating role of patient self-care in this relationship has not been tested yet. Objectives: The aim of this study was to test wheth...

Background Promoting self‐care is the core response strategy of the global health system to the burden of stroke. Although self‐care in stroke represents a dyadic phenomenon, the dyadic self‐care experience of stroke survivors and their caregivers is often overlooked in clinical practice. Objectives The aim of this study was to explore the dyadic...

Objectives To explore: (1) self-care behaviors in children and young people (range: 6 months–24 years) with complex chronic conditions, characterized by the diagnosis of a severe chronic condition, substantial family-identified needs, functional limitations associated with technology dependence, and intensive use of healthcare services; (2) the con...

Background Injectable medicines are increasingly used to manage abnormal levels of lipids, which is a major risk factor for cardiovascular events. Enhancing our understanding of patients' perceptions of these injectables, can inform practice with the aim of increasing uptake and medication adherence. Aim To explore patient's experiences of using i...

Aims: The aims of this study were to: 1) test if there are clusters of stroke survivors who experience distinct trajectories of quality of life (QOL) from hospital rehabilitation discharge to 12-months follow-up; 2) test if any socio-demographic or clinical variables predict this class membership; and 3) examine the associations between the cluste...

Background: Better caregiver contribution to self-care in heart failure is associated with better patient outcomes. However, caregiver contribution to self-care is also associated with high anxiety and depression, poor quality of life, and poor sleep in caregivers. It is still unclear whether interventions that encourage caregivers to contribute m...

Background: Generalized Anxiety Disorder is predominant in coronary heart disease (CHD) patients. 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) scale psychometric properties have never been tested in CHD populations. This study aims to verify the GAD-7 psychometric properties and measurement invariance in an Italian CHD sample. Method: A baseline...

Purpose: To develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Self-Care of Stroke Inventory (SCSI). Materials and methods: A cross-sectional, instrument development and the psychometric testing study was conducted. A 23-item self-report Self-Care of Stroke Inventory with 3 separate scales was developed. This study involved three stages: (a...

Background: Mutuality, defined as "the positive quality of the relationship between a caregiver and a care receiver", was found to be associated with self-care and caregiver contribution to self-care in heart failure (HF). However, no studies were conducted to evaluate whether motivational interviewing (MI) can improve mutuality in patients with H...

Introduction We know that patient and caregiver sex influence patient self‐care and caregiver contribution to self‐care in multiple chronic conditions. However, the role of dyad sex combination (e.g., male patient and female caregiver, female patient and male caregiver, male patient and caregiver, and female patient and caregiver) in influencing pa...

Pathological processes associated with ageing increase the risk of cognitive deficits and dementia. Frailty syndrome, also known as weakness or reserve depletion syndrome, may significantly accelerate these pathological processes in the elderly population. Frailty syndrome is characterized by decreased physiological function and neuropsychiatric sy...

Background Interoception, the ability of the organism to sense, interpret, and regulate signals originating from within the body, plays an important role in how individuals perceive and respond to symptoms. However, there is scarce evidence on the role of interoception in the symptom experience of people with chronic conditions. Aim To synthesize...

Chronic illnesses and social isolation are major public phenomena that drive health and social policy worldwide. This article describes a middle-range theory of social isolation as experienced by chronically ill individuals. Key concepts include social disconnectedness, loneliness, and chronic illness. Antecedents of social isolation include predis...

Aims and objectives: To explore the association between patient and caregiver depression and patient self-care and caregiver contribution to self-care in the context of ostomy care. Background: Self-care is essential for ostomy patients and their caregivers. The ostomy self-care process can be considered a dyadic phenomenon in which the patient...

Chronic illness requires numerous treatments and self-care is essential in the care process. Evaluation of self-care behaviors facilitates the identification of patients’ needs and optimizes education and care processes. This study aimed to test the psychometric characteristics (validity, reliability, and measurement error) of the Albanian version...

Background: The role of nurse-led motivational interviewing (MI) in improving self-care among patients with heart failure (HF) is promising, even if it still requires further empirical evidence to determine its efficacy. For this reason, this study tested its efficacy in enhancing self-care maintenance (primary endpoint), self-care management, and...

Objective: To develop and test the content validity of the Self-Care of Oral Anticancer Agents Index (SCOAAI). Data sources: SCOAAI items were developed according to the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) criteria. The Middle Range Theory of Self-Care of Chronic Illnesses informed item generati...

Purpose: To adequately manage oral anticancer agents (OAAs) therapy, appropriate self-care behaviours must be implemented. Informal caregivers could support and contribute to patient self-care. This study aimed to explore and describe the caregiver contribution to self-care and their related experience of caring among informal caregivers of patien...

Self-care of multiple chronic conditions (MCCs) and caregiver contribution to self-care have been theorized as dyadic. However, the different dyadic archetypes are still unknown. This cross-sectional study aimed to identify dyadic archetypes related to how in patient-caregiver dyads manage the patient's MCCs and to describe other ways in which the...

In recent years, the increase in textual data production has meant that researchers require faster text analysis techniques and software to reliably produce knowledge for the scientific-nursing community. Automatic Text Data Analysis opens the frontiers to a new research area combining the depth of analysis typical of qualitative research and the s...

Introduction: A stroke survivor’s Quality of life (QOL) could be associated with the caregiver’s anxiety, depression and burden. The identification of specific trajectories in stroke survivors and their associations with caregivers’ outcomes, would be helpful for developing more tailored interventions for survivors and caregivers within the first y...

Home health aides (HHAs) provide care to many adults with heart failure (HF) in the home. As the demand for HHAs increases, there is a need to promote HHAs' job satisfaction and retention. In this cross-sectional community-partnered study, we examined whether mutuality (e.g., quality of the HHA-patient relationship), is associated with job satisfac...

Self‐care performed by patients and the caregiver contribution to this self‐care are essential for improving cardiovascular outcomes; however, so far, no studies have sufficiently investigated this field in Italy. This paper describes a research protocol of a multi‐center longitudinal study designed to investigate the self‐care of patients affected...

In patients with heart failure (HF), self‐care, and caregiver contribution to self‐care (i.e., the daily management of the disease by patients and caregivers) are essential for improving patient outcomes. However, patients and caregivers are often inadequate in their self‐care and contribution to self‐care, respectively, and struggle to perform rel...

BACKGROUND Heart failure (HF) is characterized by an increasing prevalence, representing a public health problem and a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. Self-care is a cornerstone approach for optimizing therapy for patients with HF; patients play a crucial role in managing their condition, given that several adverse health outcomes mig...

Background Heart failure (HF) is characterized by an increasing prevalence, representing a public health problem and a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. Self-care is a cornerstone approach for optimizing therapy for patients with HF. Patients play a crucial role in managing their condition, given that several adverse health outcomes mig...

There is no evidence with regard to the effectiveness of the use of simulation in video conferences to facilitate the learning experiences of nursing student. Aims. To describe the research protocol 1) to validate instruments measuring student satisfaction, self-confidence, and perceptions of good planning and best practice in the use of virtual si...

Understanding participants’ perspectives in qualitative research is contingent on unravelling the essential meaning of their speech. When data are collected in native language and translated into English language, the underlying sociocultural meaning of participants’ speech can be missed. This paper discusses a new contextual coding approach and il...

Introduction: Caregivers play an instrumental role in ensuring adequate self-care for their relatives with heart failure (HF). Nevertheless, caregivers can be subject to negative outcomes and sacrifice of personal needs due to their challenging caregiving role, which increases the demand for social support. Previous studies did not provide a compre...

Introduction: Stroke symptoms often predict disability and low quality of life (QOL) in stroke survivors. Stroke survivors’ QOL could have an influence on their caregivers’ variables, such as anxiety, depression or burden and consequently caregivers’ QOL. Hypothesis: The aims of this study were to: 1) identify the distinct trajectories of the strok...