Chronic disease self management is about people being actively involved in and being at
the centre of their own health care to maximise their quality of life.
Self management involves the person with a chronic disease:
“… engaging in activities that protect and promote health, monitoring and managing symptoms
and signs of illness, managing the impacts of illness on functioning, emotions and interpersonal
relationships and adhering to treatment regimes” (Gruman & Von Korff, 1996, p1).
Self management also involves the health care professional enabling their clients to:
“… make informed choices, to adapt new perspective and generic skills that can be applied to
new problems as they arise, to practice new health behaviours, and to maintain or regain emotional
stability” (Lorig, Mazonson & Holman, 1993).
Health Partners is a program that was established in 2001 with the aim to support
the integration of chronic disease self management principles into health service provision
within the Canning Division’s catchment area. The program adopted a client centred strategy
which aimed to build the capacity of community members taking an active role in managing their health.
Health Partners has developed a suite of interventions to assist clients to self manage
their chronic condition/s. Examples of these interventions include:
A number of resources have also been developed to assist GPs and allied health professionals support the
implementation of chronic disease self management.
Chronic Disease Self Management – A Guide to Implementation
This resource is a manual which has been developed to assist health professionals in developing a chronic
disease self management (CDSM) program within their own organisation. The manual includes information on
CDSM client interventions and the CDSM training available for health professionals interested in working
in this area.
Chronic disease self management is now widely recognised as a key strategy for improving health care practice
and health outcomes. Health professionals who are interested in learning and applying the latest CDSM
principles can access the following training options.
Chronic Condition Self Management Training (Flinders Model)
This training enables health professionals to undertake a structured process to assess self management
capacity in people with chronic conditions. It is a clinician led model and is beneficial to those
health professionals who work with clients on an individual basis.
Living Life with Chronic Conditions Leaders Training (Lorig/Stanford Model)
At the completion of this training, participants are able to co-lead the 6 week Living Life with Chronic
Conditions workshop.
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