Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-669899f699-8p65j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-05T01:56:10.255Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 19 - Supported Self-Care and Health Education

from Section 4 - Clinical Skills in Lifestyle Medicine

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2025

By
Austen El-Osta
Edited by
Richard Pinder ,
Christopher-James Harvey  and
Ellen Fallows
Richard Pinder
Affiliation:
Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London
Christopher-James Harvey
Affiliation:
Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London
Ellen Fallows
Affiliation:
British Society of Lifestyle Medicine
Get access

Summary

Self-care is a broad concept that refers to the actions taken to preserve or improve health, which can vary depending on the academic literature. A useful framework to understand self-care is the Self-Care Matrix, which consists of four dimensions: activities, behaviours, context, and environment. Self-care activities are the specific practices that promote health, such as physical activity, healthy eating, hygiene, and rational use of health products. Self-care behaviours are the principles and actions that guide positive health behaviours and lifestyle choices. Self-care context is the degree of dependence or independence from external healthcare resources. Self-care environment is the external factor that influences self-care practices within the community. Self-care is closely related to Lifestyle Medicine, which supports individuals in adopting sustainable health practices and prioritises preventive strategies over reactive measures. Lifestyle Medicine and self-care play a crucial role in both primary and secondary prevention of diseases. The future of self-care envisions a healthcare landscape where technology and personalised approaches enhance self-care and Lifestyle Medicine. However, there are also challenges to address, such as potential inequalities and misconceptions that may arise as health systems pivot towards self-care.

Keywords

Self-careLifestyle MedicineHealth outcomesBehaviour changePreventive strategiesHealth literacyPersonal empowermentTechnology-enabled healthcareSelf-care matrixHealth and well-being management
Type
Chapter
Information
Essential Lifestyle Medicine , pp. 213 - 219
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Webber, D., Guo, Z. and Mann, S., Self-care in health: We can define it, but should we also measure it? Self-Care Journal. 2013;4(5):101–106.Google Scholar
WHO, Secretariate WG, Logie C, Guideline Development G, Group WHOGS, Committee WHOGR. WHO Consolidated Guideline on Self-Care Interventions for Health: Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization, 2019.Google Scholar
Godfrey, C. M., Harrison, M. B., Lysaght, R., et al., Care of self – care by other – care of other: The meaning of self-care from research, practice, policy and industry perspectives. Int J Evid Based Healthc. 2011;9(1):3–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Riegel, B., Jaarsma, T. and Strömberg, A., A middle-range theory of self-care of chronic illness. Advs. Nurs. Sci. 2012;35(3):194–204.Google ScholarPubMed
Michie, S., Van Stralen, M. M. and West, R., The behaviour change wheel: A new method for characterising and designing behaviour change interventions. Implementation Sci. 2011;6(1):1–12.Google ScholarPubMed
El-Osta, A., Webber, D., Gnani, S., et al., The self-care matrix: A unifying framework for self-care. Self-Care. 2019;10:38–56.Google Scholar
Roland, M. and Abel, G., Reducing emergency admissions: Are we on the right track? BMJ. 2012;345.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
El-Osta, A., Kerr, G., Alaa, A., et al., Investigating self-reported efficacy of lifestyle medicine approaches to tackle erectile dysfunction: A cross-sectional e-Survey based study. BMC Urology. 2023;23:1–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
El-Osta, A., Rowe, C. and Majeed, A., Developing a shared definition of self-driven healthcare to enhance the current healthcare delivery paradigm. J R Soc Med. 2022;115(11):424–428.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
El-Osta, A., Riboli-Sasco, E., AML, E. l., et al., Back to the Future: Self-Driven Healthcare 2030 Insights Report. Self-Care Academic Research Unit (SCARU), Imperial College London, 2023. Available at https://cdn.researchfeatures.com/External/SCARU/SDHealthCare/index.htmlCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skinner, D., Smith, P. and El-Osta, A., Self-Care 2030: What Does the Future of Health & Wellbeing Look Like & How Do We Get There? 2023. ResearchFutures.comGoogle Scholar
El-Osta, A., Webber, I. and Alaa, A., What is the suitability of clinical vignettes in benchmarking the performance of online symptom checkers? An audit study. BMJ Open. 2022;12:e053566.Google Scholar
Leyns, C., Willems, S., Powell, R. A., et al., From disease to people-centred pandemic management: Organized communities, community-oriented primary care and health information systems. Int. J. Equity Health. 2023;22(1):225.Google ScholarPubMed
El-Osta, A., Sasco, E. R., Barbanti, E., et al., Tools for measuring individual self-care capability: A scoping review. BMC Public Health. 2023;23(1):1312.Google ScholarPubMed

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×