ELEMENTS OF (SELF) CARE IN CHRONIC PATIENTS WITH HEART CONDITIONS – A QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS
ELEMENTS OF (SELF) CARE IN CHRONIC PATIENTS WITH HEART CONDITIONS – A QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS

Summary/Abstract: In the context of chronic disease, self-care or self-management represents a term used in the field of education for health and associated to programs for health promotion and for patient education (Cojocaru and Popa 2013). The idea of program implies, among others, formalizing and/or standardizing the activities. In the conditions of chronic disease, the self-care of health status can also be achieved in the absence of self-management programs, and it may represent: (1) a set of non-formal actions that the patient initiates following his/her own method, (2) a set of formal actions that the patient initiates upon the physician’s recommendation or (3) a combination between the two situations. In this context, the outcome of (self)-care is influenced by a series of factors. The purpose of this study is to identify the formal and non-formal elements specific to self-care, which may represent premises for the creation of self-management programs to support the persons diagnosed with chronic heart diseases. To this end, we conducted 13 interviews with patients with chronic heart diseases within the clinic of the “Dr. C.I. Parhon” Clinic Hospital in Iaşi.

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