Grant Details

The purpose of this initiative is to support research in self-management focused across conditions. A recent report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) identifies the epidemic of chronic condition as the nation’s leading health challenge and calls for cross-cutting, coordinated public health actions for “living well with chronic illness”. This program addresses that recommendation by describing an initiative that focuses on self-management as a mainstream science in order to reduce the burden of chronic illnesses/conditions. Self-management is the ability of the individual, in conjunction with family, community, and healthcare professionals, to manage symptoms, treatments, lifestyle changes, and psychosocial, cultural, and spiritual consequences associated with a chronic illness or condition.

Research Objectives:

• Examine the influence of quality of life, burden of care, culture, ethnicity, age, family, or socioeconomic status across chronic conditions on self-management
• Determine whether age-, gender-, and ethnically-related motivational factors are associated with improved self-management of chronic conditions in children
• Investigate how the multiple co-morbidities and disabilities associated in the most advanced years affect the types of self-management strategies chosen as well as the effectiveness of different approaches
• Studies supporting the use of decision-support and personalized interventions to increase adherence to treatment
• Developing research programs that advance work in generic outcome assessment for self-management measures and optimal self-management health outcomes
• Designing novel technologies and social media that assist in monitoring symptom status, promoting health behavior modifications, and accessing/imparting health information
• Incorporating community engaged research methodologies to include the use of social media, wireless monitoring, and home evaluations for self-management
• Predictive research on who will benefit from self-management strategies
• Use of pragmatic clinical trial designs
• Studies that incorporate resilience as it relates to self-management such as resilience factors throughout development in early childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, old age
• Dissemination and implementation research focused on self-management
• Develop behavioral interventions for use in varied clinical and community settings that test the effectiveness of self-management interventions to reduce condition burden and disability, improve well-being, strengthen self-determination and participation in healthcare, prevent illness and complications
• Strategies that utilize the built environment in improving self-management in chronic conditions
• Investigate intervention strategies that promote self-management across chronic conditions in which they have not been adequately or previously tested
• Determine the influence of established approaches to self-management across chronic conditions (examples: improved self-efficacy, cognitive strategies, social support, coping skills