Managing Illness

Question 1

Define self-care.

Answer 1

The actions people take for themselves and their families to:

1 - Maintain good physical and mental health.

2 - Meet social and psychological needs.

3 - Prevent illness / accidents.

4 - Care for minor ailments and long-term conditions.

5 - Maintain health after an acute illness.

Question 2

List 4 functions of self-care (according to Barofsky).

Answer 2

1 - Restorative (to alleviate illness).

2 - Reactive (to alleviate symptoms).

3 - Preventative (to prevent illness).

4 - Regulatory (to regulate bodily processes).

Question 3

List 6 factors contributing to self-care.

Answer 3

1 - Definitions of health and illness.

2 - Changing beliefs about medical power.

3 - Internet use.

4 - Technology (self-testing kits).

5 - Availability of OTC drugs.

6 - Need to reduce NHS costs.

Question 4

What did McShane and Mitchel say about focusing on treating individual conditions rather than treating individuals?

Answer 4

• There are rising numbers of patients with multiple conditions.
• The consequence of focusing on individual conditions rather than individuals is fragmented and inefficient care.

Question 5

What is master status?

Answer 5

• The social position which is the primary identifying characteristic of an individual and that overshadows all other social positions.
• e.g. ‘person with hypertension and co-morbidities’ - hypertension is the master status.

Question 6

What is the expert patient programme?

Answer 6

A programme aims to give people with long-term conditions the confidence to self-manage.

Question 7

List 5 reasons for why the expert patient programme focuses on people with chronic illness.

Answer 7

1 - There is an increase in ageing population.

2 - There is an increase in chronic disease and co-morbidity.

3 - There is an increase in health service demand.

4 - There are new concepts of ageing.

5 - There is a lack of health education programmes for people with chronic disease.

Question 8

List 6 assumptions / characteristics of acute illnesses.

Answer 8

1 - The illness is ongoing.

2 - A cure is expected.

3 - Quality of life is highly dependent on professional, acute health care services.

4 - The healthcare professional has a greater knowledge of the illness than the patient.

5 - Short term goals are set.

6 - Compliance is expected.

Question 9

List 6 assumptions / characteristics of chronic illnesses.

Answer 9

1 - The illness is episodic.

2 - The illness is incurable.

3 - Quality of life is dependent on the patient’s self-care and decision making skills.

4 - The patient has a greater knowledge of the illness than the healthcare professional.

5 - Short term goals are set to only to meet long term outcomes.

6 - Compliance and self-reliance are expected.

Question 10

List the 12 self-management tasks in chronic disease.

Answer 10

1 - Recognising and responding to symptoms.

2 - Using medications.

3 - Managing acute episodes.

4 - Maintaining good nutrition.

5 - Maintaining adequate exercise.

6 - Not smoking.

7 - Using relaxation techniques.

8 - Interacting appropriately with healthcare providers.

9 - Seeking information and using community resources.

10 - Adapting work and other role functions.

11 - Communicating with significant others.

12 - Managing the negative emotions and psychological responses to the illness.