Page 227 - Psychology of Wounds and Wound Care in Clinical Practice ( PDFDrive )

202 Chapter 8. Family, Friends and Social Support

health care professionals- the support from significant others,
such as family members, friends, or co-workers is also crucial
for those suffering with chronic wounds and this will be sub-
ject to further discussion later in this chapter.

Social Support Interventions

Health care professionals are usually aware of the benefits of
social support interventions for individuals with leg ulcers,
even if they understand that the interventions themselves do
not produce healing as a direct result (Brown 2010 ). It has
been suggested that health care practitioners should encour-
age patients to become more involved in self-management,
through such social support self-help groups to reduce both
pain and the consequent stress it causes (Price et al. 2007 ;
Moffatt et al. 2009 ; Brown 2010 ). ‘Leg clubs’ can provide
individuals with an environment whereby those with similar
problems can socialise in a supporting, information-sharing
environment (Edwards et al. 2005 ). There have been a num-
ber of ‘leg club’ interventions set up within a community set-
ting that have been developed which aim to improve an
individual’s well-being, some of these include, ‘Lively legs’
programme (Heinen et al. 2012 ); ‘Look after your legs’ sup-
port group (Freeman et al. 2007 ); and the ‘Lindsay leg club’ ®
(Lindsay 2013 ).
Furthermore, due to the isolation and depression experi-
ences by ulceration patients, the Lindsay Leg Club model of
care was established (Lindsay 2004 ). It is based in a non-
medical setting such as a community, church or village hall,
where those with leg wounds can have collective treatment
and share their experiences, there is also open access, mean-
ing that no appointment is required. Community based
interventions also provide patients with information about
their wound and how to care for their wound as well as
a number of strategies with living with a wound and over-
coming practical difficulties from health professionals and
other patients who have similar wound related problems