Self-care in health.

Abstract

Self-care in health in this paper refers to those activities individuals under­ take in promoting their own health, preventing their own disease, limiting their own illness, and restoring their own health. These activities are under­ taken without professional assistance, although individuals are informed by technical knowledge and skills derived from the pool of both professional and lay experience. This broad definition is consistent with definitions com­ monly applied to the term self-care [(C. Smith, unpublished paper; P. Crawshaw and B. Wong, unpublished paper; (1-3)]. The generic attribute of self-care is its nonprofessional, nonbureaucratic, nonindustrial character; its natural place in social life (4). Operational definitions of self-care have more narrowly reflected various emphases on the spiritual aspect of health and health care, wellness behavior, self-medication, healing potential, self­ administered primary medical care, management of chronic disease, and protection in use of professional services (5-18). The concept of self-care also remains within the traditional health education literature as focused on risk reduction and disease prevention at the level of personal action (19). Self-care as a political concept involving individual skills in collective action on structural issues had its early expression in the consumer health move­ ment of the last two decades. Currently, the collective action perspective on self-care is found largely within the broader frame of lay initiatives in health, particularly through neighborhood voluntary organizations (15) and mutual aid groups.