Developing a Patient-Centred, Clinically Relevant Measure of Self-management for Individuals with Multiple Chronic Conditions

Everyone with a chronic condition has to "self-manage" in some way - by monitoring symptoms, staying healthy, navigating the health care system and adjusting to changing realities and restrictions. Research shows that having the right knowledge, skills and supports helps people to actively manage life with their condition. Yet, we still don't have the assessment tools needed to help patients and their providers identify self-management skills and priorities, or to evaluate self-management outcomes. Tools currently being used do not assess the many and different challenges that individuals with different or multiple conditions face, nor can they identify how individual needs differ depending on the symptoms, length of time with the condition, family and social supports, or access to resources. This makes it difficult for patients and their health providers to select interventions that are specific to peoples' individual needs and to select the right supports and programs for individual patients. This research will develop a new assessment tool that will help clinicians to tailor care for each individual and researchers to improve the effectiveness of self-management interventions and services.