Week 3: Self-Management Flashcards
What is self management?
▪ Self-management is what the person with a chronic disease does to manage
their own illness, not what health professionals do.
▪ Self-management = our ability to manage our lives
▪ Includes:
▪ Healthy lifestyle choices
▪ Informed decisions regarding ongoing treatment options that fit within the
person’s the broader social context
▪ Actively monitoring and managing symptoms and impacts
▪ Working in partnership with a team of health care workers
▪ Requires lifelong choices, skills and strategies on the part of the individual for
optimal management of their health condition in the long term.
▪ The client (+/- family/carers) working in partnership with their health care
provider to:
▪ know their condition and various treatment options
▪ negotiate a plan of care
▪ engage in activities that protect and promote health
▪ monitor and manage the symptoms and signs of the condition(s)
▪ manage the impact of the condition on physical functioning, emotions
and interpersonal relationships.
Why Self-Management Support is important?
▪ Health care practitioners need to assist a person with
their self-management practices
▪ Support patients’ self-efficacy and ability to effectively self-manage
▪ Can be provided through a range of strategies and approaches
▪ Includes provision of information AND assistance in practical application
▪ Discover what is it that really matters to the person then assist them to
do this.
▪ Respects choices and individual circumstances of the person with a chronic
disease
▪ Assists to address barriers to self-management
▪ Involves goal-setting and problem-solving
▪ Ongoing collaborative process
▪ Needs to be available when the person needs support in maintaining lifelong
approach
▪ Refocus client encounters
▪ From: ‘giving advice and prescriptions’
▪ To: ‘discussing options and making a plan together
What makes a good self-manager?
▪ Asks questions – keeps informed about their condition and various
treatment options
▪ Is involved in the decision making with their general practitioner and
other health professionals
▪ Follows the care plan agreed upon with health professionals, e.g. taking
medications, exercising, going to the doctor and changing diet
▪ Monitors symptoms associated with their condition and informs their
health care team about problems and changes
▪ Maintains the things that are meaningful to them. This may mean
adapting to different ways of doing things, but still carrying on normal
activities to the best of their ability
▪ Manages the emotional ups and downs as a natural path we all have
▪ Tries new things and gives them a fair trial
▪ Sets goals and work towards them
▪ Lives a healthy lifestyle
What’s The self-management toolbox?
▪ Physical activity ▪ Using our minds ▪ Managing pain ▪ Working with our health professionals ▪ Better breathing ▪ Understanding emotions ▪ Problem-solving ▪ Medications ▪ Managing fatigue ▪ Communication ▪ Planning Healthy eating
Health care providers can facilitate individuals with self-management using what strategies:
▪ agenda setting
▪ motivational interviewing
▪ health education
▪ coaching
▪ information technology directed education
▪ personal guidelines, e.g. symptom action diaries
▪ care plans
What is agenda-setting?
▪ Set the agenda for the discussion
▪ See what they are ready and keen to talk about
▪ Key questions
▪ What health-related behaviour or issue would you like to talk about today?
▪ Is there anything to do with your health you feel you would like to talk about today?
▪ Follow up questions:
▪ Do you feel you need to adjust your diet at all? How would this be helpful to you?
▪ I know that everyone talks about the importance of regular exercise, but how
important is it to you personally to exercise?
What is Motivational interviewing?
▪ Counselling technique for eliciting behaviour change by helping the client
explore and resolve ambivalence about change
▪ The health professional seeks to:
▪ express acceptance and support
▪ elicit and reinforce the client’s own statements about the problem,
concern, desire and intent to change and ability to change
▪ monitor the client’s degree of readiness to change and ensure resistance
is not generated by ‘jumping ahead’ of the client
▪ accept the client’s freedom of choice and self-regulation
What is health education?
▪ Health education is not just ‘telling people what they ‘need to know
▪ Combination of learning experiences designed to facilitate voluntary
adaptations of behaviour beneficial to health
▪ Focus of health education must be on skills enhancement to facilitate
informed decision-making
▪ Some health education strategies include:
▪ formal or informal teaching
▪ giving clients pamphlets containing information on their health
conditions
▪ using the media to give out health messages
▪ conducting healthy cooking demonstrations
▪ organising ‘green food’ programs in stores
▪ assisting new mothers to continue breastfeeding
What is Health Coaching?
▪ Fully trained health professionals apply evidence-based principles
and techniques from health psychology and coaching psychology to
assist their patients to achieve positive health and lifestyle outcomes
through attitude and behaviour change
▪ Embraces the notion that health behaviour change is an individual the process that people must work their way through.
▪ Each person’s change process will require different interventions.
How do support groups help with self-management?
They help people who have chronic health problems by teaching them how to do a better job of self-care, providing emotional support, or offering other kinds of concrete support, like getting groceries or providing transportation to and from medical appointments.
What factors may prevent your clients from wanting to attend a support group?
Social anxiety, unable to travel, mental disabilities
