Zelfmanagementonder­steuning: een breder perspectief op wat patiënten nodig hebben en verpleegkundigen kunnen bieden

Summary

Self-Management Support: A broader perspective on what patients need and nurses could provide
Janet Been-Dahmen

AIM: The central aim was to explore how nurses could effectively support patients to optimize their self-management.
METHOD: This thesis consists of three parts: 1) experiences with and needs for self-management support; 2) development of a self-management intervention; 3) evaluation of self-management support interventions.
FINDINGS: People with chronic conditions want to receive support from professionals that: fits their needs, does not have a focus limited to biomedical aspects and addresses all daily life areas that are challenged by their condition(s). Provision of standardized education is not sufficient. From patients’ and professionals’ point of view, the newly developed self-management intervention seems to be feasible and helpful.
DISCUSSION: The findings contributed to more understanding of how support provided by nurses could help patients with the self-management challenges they experience in dealing with their chronic condition in daily life. However, more research is needed into the effectiveness of the newly developed selfmanagement intervention.
CONCLUSION: Nurses would bring added value in self-management support by regularly assessing the challenges of patient’s everyday life (such as work, relationships, financial aspects, adherence to therapy). Only then can nurses facilitate the patient to develop the problem-solving skills needed to live a satisfactory life despite the illness.

Keywords: Selfcare, self-management support, nursing, intervention,