Background: In Europe, cardiovascular disease is one of the predominant causes of mortality and morbidity among older people over 65 years. The occurrence of cardiovascular disease can have a negative impact on the quality of life of older patients and their families and family health overall. Assuming …

Dementia will have affected approximately 13.42 million people in Europe by 2030. Despite the growing number of people with dementia, the demand for good quality care and support is currently inappropriately met. The challenge is to provide sustainable person-centred programmes of care and support in …

Rationale: Currently use of muscle thickness measured with ultrasound is suggested as an indicator for overall muscle mass in nutritional assessment. However, not much is known about how the muscle thickness measured in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) compares to the muscle …

BACKGROUND: Physical activity (PA) is important for children with a chronic disease. Serious games may be useful to promote PA levels among these children. OBJECTIVE: The primary purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate the effectiveness of serious games on PA levels in children with a chronic …

Objective: Developing and evaluating effective transition interventions for young people (16–25 years) with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a high priority. While transition clinics (TCs) have been recommended, little is known about their operating structures and outcomes. This study aimed to gain …

Background Having a partner is associated with better prognosis in patients with cardiovascular disease. However, the influence of partners on modification of patients’ lifestyle-related risk factors (LRFs) is unclear. Therefore, we studied the influence of partners and the level of partner participation …

ADHD en reïficatie Dit proefschrift begint met een quote van de 11-jarige Sylvia, die denkt: “ADHD is net als kanker (…) maar je gaat er niet dood aan”. ADHD is zeker geen ziekte als kanker, maar een concept uit de Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), waarvan momenteel de 5e editie uit is. De DSM-5 …

Background: To support effective self-management after kidney transplantation, a holistic nurse-led self-management support intervention was developed using the Intervention Mapping approach. The primary aim was to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability and fidelity of the intervention for kidney transplant …

The increase of people living with chronic conditions has compelled society to develop and implement strategies that promote collaboration between patients and healthcare professionals, and which provide the patients with an active role in their care. In order to accomplish this, the World Health Organization, …

BACKGROUND: After hospitalization for cardiac disease, older patients are at high risk of readmission and death. Although geriatric conditions increase this risk, treatment of older cardiac patients is limited to the management of cardiac diseases. The aim of this study is to investigate if unplanned …