The Flinders Program™ of chronic condition self-management in New Zealand: survey findings

The Flinders Program™ of Chronic Condition Self-Management in New Zealand (NZ) has been given focus as a useful and appropriate approach for self-management support and improvement of long-term condition management.

To determine the use of the Flinders Program™ in NZ and identify barriers and enablers to its use.

A web-based survey was undertaken in June 2009 with 355 eligible participants of the 500 who had completed 'Flinders' training in NZ since 2005.

152 (43%) respondents completed the survey over a one-month time frame. Of those who responded, the majority were primary care nurses (80%; 118). Fifty-five percent (82) of survey respondents reported using some or all of the Flinders tools. Of these, 11% (16) reported using all of the tools or processes with 77% (104) of respondents having completed six or fewer client assessments utilising the Flinders tools. This indicates that respondents were relatively inexperienced with use of the Flinders Program™. Barriers to implementation were identified as the time needed for structured appointments (up to one hour), funding, resistance from colleagues, lack of space and insufficient ongoing support.

Despite the extent of training in the use of the Flinders Program™, there is limited use in clinical practice of the tools and processes associated with the model. Without structured support for quality improvement initiatives and self-management programmes, the ability to implement learned skills and complex interventions is limited.