Self-Management in Chronic Illness: Principles, Practice, and Empowerment Strategies for Better Health

Self-management is a term that was used as early as the 1960s when it was applied during the rehabilitation of chronically ill children. Subsequently, self-management was applied as formalized programs for a variety of populations and health issues. In reflecting on self-management, it is important to note that it would be difficult for individuals not to be aware of their specific health behaviors, which could include unhealthy behaviors.

As self-management has evolved, essential skills identified include behavioral modeling, decision making, planning, social persuasion, locating, accessing and utilizing resources, assisting individuals to form partnerships with their health care providers and taking action. These are key skills that would benefit health professional educators, clinicians and patients.

This book, consisting of three parts, provides insights into the aspects of self-management as it relates to its definition and application. It highlights how self-management can be applied to various long-term health conditions, for different populations or target groups and in different contexts. The text provides an overview of self-management and the rationale for its applications by illustrating its use in specific clinical conditions and in different sub-populations and target groups. Academics can use the book as a textbook when teaching postgraduate and undergraduate students about self-management as a technique to facilitate community reintegration for individuals living with long-term conditions. It can also be used by clinicians to enhance their management of individuals with long-term conditions. Furthermore, researchers can use the text to expand and support their research in this area. 

Prof Jose Frantz, PhD has been involved in capacity development for more than a decade and in leadership development for the last 5 years. Prof Frantz has 20 years experience as an academic, researcher and manager with her background in the health sciences. She has extensive experience in research in the area of promotion of physical activity to combat the risk of chronic diseases as well as research in capacity development. She has been involved in developing and implementing leadership development programs for the past 5 years and incorporated in this is the aspect of self-management as a leader. Prof Frantz has supervised several PhD and masters students to completion and has engaged in several capacity building projects.

Laura Schopp, PhD, ABPP has served over 20 years as a researcher, teacher, and clinician with a focus on health promotion and prevention, particularly among persons with chronic conditions such as neurologic injury or neurologic disease.  She has received over $6M USD as Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator of federal research grants to improve health and quality of life for persons with chronic health conditions.  In addition to her roles as Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Psychology at the University of Missouri, she has served as Director of a university employee health promotion program serving over 41,000 covered lives.   She has conducted workshops and published in the area of self-management.

Prof Anthea Rhoda, PhD has over 15 years experience as an academic, educator, researcher, included in this tenor she has 7 years of leadership experience holding positions as a Chair of the Department of Physiotherapy and Vice-Dean Teaching and Learning. Prior to joining academia Prof Rhoda worked as a Physiotherapist in the clinical field for 12 years, 6 of which was at a community level specifically in the area of stroke rehabilitation. Prof Rhoda hastherefore extensive research experience in stroke rehabilitation. She has published numerous articles in peer reviewed journals in stroke rehabilitation. Her work in this area has also been presented on numerous international platforms. Prof Rhoda is currently the principal investigator on a project which is adapting a self-management programme developed in the United Kingdom for individuals with stroke for the South African Context. She is currently supervising PhD students who are completing studies in self-management.