Self-care in people with long term health problems: a community based survey.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Self-care is a key component of current policies to manage long term conditions. Although most people with long-term health problems care for themselves within lay networks, consultation rates for long-term undifferentiated illness remain high. Promotion of self-care in these individuals requires an understanding of their own self-care practices and needs to be understood in the context of health care pluralism. The aim was to investigate the extent and nature of self-care practices in patients experiencing long term health problems, sources of information used for self-care, and use of other forms of health care (conventional health care and complementary and alternative medicine).

Methods

The study involved a cross-sectional community-based survey set in three g

SUBMITTER: MacKichan F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3143929 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature