Chronic conditions, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, respiratory disease, and arthritis, affect millions of people across the United States. These conditions can have very different symptoms and needs, but also share common challenges – for example, needing to manage multiple medications, dealing with limited independence, and potentially adjusting to new nutrition, diet, and exercise routines. Not only does managing these conditions put more burden onto the patient, but is costly for the healthcare system – about 86% of the nation’s health care expenses go towards chronic condition treatment and management. Older adults are particularly affected by chronic conditions – nearly 95% have at least one chronic condition, and nearly 80% have at least two conditions. While the traditional medical model of a healthcare provider-patient is incredibly valuable, a new concept – self-management – makes the patient an active partner in managing their health, rather than a passive recipient of their healthcare provider’s guidance.
So what is self-management? Essentially, self-management of chronic conditions refers to day-to-day strategies that individuals can use to manage and improve their health in their own time. Self-management aims to make the provider-patient relationship into a collaborative one, in which the patient listens and incorporates their provider’s guidance into their lives, but also works on their own to build habits and behaviours that will supplement their provider’s instructions. Examples of self-management skills may include improving health literacy, building healthy and sustainable nutrition and exercise habits, as well as productive communication with family and healthcare providers, action-planning, goal-setting, and decision making. These skills not only help improve tangible health outcomes, but make the patient feel more in control and confident in themselves and their ability to manage their health.
Self-management does not replace professional healthcare, but instead, works in conjunction with it to build patients’ self-efficacy, confidence, and skills to become a partner in their health team. Individuals who participated in a Chronic Disease Self-Management Program, developed by experts at Stanford University, experienced significant improvements in health behaviours, self-efficacy, health-related quality of life, health status, and had fewer visits to the emergency departments.
Self-management skills are a valuable potential resource for those with chronic conditions and those looking to take an active role in their own health. For more information about the evidence-based Chronic Disease Self-Management Program and how it could help you or a loved one, you can visit the Self-Management Resource Center.
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