Self-care refers to activities and practices that we can engage in on a regular basis to improve health, which includes better nutrition, more physical activity, restorative sleep strategies, and a more positive mindset to reduce stress, all enhance short and longer-term well-being.
The concept of self-care remains unprecise due to the difficulty integrating the diverse definitions developed over time across disciplines.
Never has the concept of self-care been more relevant than in the context of an escalation of chronic and communicable diseases, with a massive impact on healthcare systems worldwide.
It is crucial to formulate the defining attributes, antecedents, and consequences of self-care to provide clinicians, researchers, and patients with the ability to communicate clearly with one another and establish well-defined lines of responsibility.
The ability to care for oneself through awareness, self-control, and self-reliance in order to achieve, maintain, or promote optimal health and well-being. Chronic disease patients ultimately spend more time managing their conditions and providing self-care than they spend with their providers.
Legitimizing this realization as an equal aspect of medical care within the context of chronic disease reinforces the importance of disseminating this information to both professional and lay audiences. Self-care is an active decision-making process that enables people to effectively engage in their care.
References
1.McCormack D. An examination of the self-care concept uncovers a new direction for healthcare reform. Nurs Leader. 2003;16(4):48–62. doi: 10.12927/cjnl.2003.16342.
2.Self-care: A concept analysis, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8488814/