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Critical analysis of everyday self-care decision making in chronic illness
B L Paterson1, C Russell, S Thorne
1University of British Columbia School of Nursing, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. paterson@nursing.ubc.ca
Aims Of The Paper:
The purpose of the paper is to (1) identify prevalent assumptions that underlie the traditional conceptualization of everyday self-care decision making and (2) contrast these with the findings of relevant research.
Background/Rationale:
Current understandings of self-care decision making in chronic illness tend to be extrapolated from knowledge gained in relation to one-time decisions, or decision making in contexts that are only superficially related to the complexity and pervasiveness of living with a chronic disease.
Findings:
The authors challenge the assumptions with which current understandings represent self-care decision making in chronic illness, using evidence from their research on what it is like to live with and manage the implications of having a chronic disease on an everyday basis.
Conclusions:
The paper concludes with a call for a new conceptualization of self-care decision making in chronic illness which sufficiently addresses the unique and complex nature of such decisions.