Inclusion criteria | Exclusion criteria |
---|---|
Peer reviewed journal articles or conference papers about primary research, published in English. | Unpublished papers, dissertations, book chapters. |
Used a qualitative design, defined as those studies that collect data using specific qualitative techniques such as unstructured interviews, semi-structured interviews or focus groups, either as a stand-alone methodology or as discrete part of a larger mixed-method study, and analysed qualitatively. | Studies that collected data using qualitative methods but then analysed these data using quantitative methods. |
Participants with physical and/or mental multimorbidity, defined as “the co-existence of two or more chronic conditions, where one is not necessarily more central than the others” (ref Valderas). | Studies that included participants with <2 long term conditions; had a diagnosis of severe mental health problems (e.g. psychosis), substance/alcohol abuse (i.e. dual diagnosis), cancer, terminal illness, or in receipt of palliative care. |
Studies that reported patients’ experiences of living with multimorbidity and/or self management of multimorbidity. | Studies that reported health care professionals' experiences of addressing multimorbidity; described patients experiences of specialist care services (e.g. cancer services); described patients’ experiences of interventions designed to support self-management. |