Self-management toolkit for PESD with MLTCs

Background
More people are living with two or more long-term conditions (such as heart disease, diabetes, arthritis). People who are
poorer tend to experience these conditions more severely and at a younger age. Helping people manage their conditions,
through resources that support them to make lifestyle changes and manage their medicines, improves their health and wellbeing. However, people who have less money or who live in poorer areas (often referred to as ‘people experiencing
socioeconomic deprivation’) are often left out from research and helping to design suitable resources. This means that these
resources may not meet the needs of poorer people.

Aim
To create a new resource (a “toolkit”) that supports people experiencing socioeconomic deprivation to manage multiple
long-term conditions.
Research Methods and plan
Work-package 1A (Months 1-10): 30 people, including those experiencing socioeconomic deprivation, carers, healthcare
professionals, and researchers will design the toolkit across four workshops. The focus will be on making the toolkit easy to
use and appropriate for different communities. Examples of things which could be included are information on symptoms,
reminders to take medication, goal setting and symptom tracking.
Work-package 1B (Months 3-10): After each workshop, we will work with a company to design the resource (e.g., a
website/app and a paper version) then four participants will use the resource giving their feedback in real-time. The resource
will then be updated, and another workshop will be run. This will happen three times to ensure the toolkit is user-friendly.
Work-package 2 (Months 10-18): A separate group of 20 people experiencing socioeconomic deprivation with multiple longterm conditions, and their carers if they wish, will use the resource in their daily lives over eight weeks. Participants will be
interviewed at the end to understand any challenges they faced and if it was useful. Information on how many took part,
how many used it for the full eight-weeks, and a survey on how useful it was will be collected.
Nested project for people with memory difficulties: a researcher will use similar methods described above focusing on people
with memory difficulties, a common symptom in people experiencing socioeconomic deprivation. For example, ensuring
goals are tied to current habits to reduce risk of forgetting to complete tasks.
Patient and public involvement (PPI)
Two PPI members, who have experience of socioeconomic deprivation and multiple long-term conditions, have designed
this project with the researchers. They will lead a group of other PPI members who will give feedback on project throughout.
One PPI member will help run the workshops and interviews.
Dissemination
We will share the toolkit and our findings with networks in primary care, in academic journals, across social media, and
present findings using creative ways, such as infographics (such as posters) and videos