Consumer Health

1. Consumer Health Self-Care

2. Self-Care • Purposes of Self-Care • Health Promotion • Self-Diagnosis • Home Medical Tests • Self-Treatment of Chronic Diseases • Organizations • Self-Help Publications • Self-Help Groups

3. Purposes of Self-Care • Improve wellness / health status • Reduce risk factor • Prevent illness or injury • Diagnose/assess symptoms/signs of illness • Reduce pain, discomfort, disability • Develop advocacy skills

4. Purposes of Self-Care • For the patient, improve • health, satisfaction, and loyalty to health care providers and plans and, at the same time, • reduce use of services and lower costs

5. Home Medical Tests • Began in early 1990s • Tests include • Hepatitis C, cholesterol, illegal drugs, and, of course, pregnancy, HIV, blood pressure • Benefits • Reduces office visits • Personal sense of control • Need FDA approval

6. Organizations • Scope of Self-Care Instruction • Lifestyle modification/health promotion • Chronic illness conditions • Health-care consumer information • Acute illness conditions • Physical examination skills • Dental health skills • Alternative therapies

7. Self-Help Publications • Report on Self-Care Manuals • For the patient, improve • health, satisfaction, and loyalty to health care providers and plans and, at the same time, • reduce use of services and lower costs

8. Self-Help Publications • Assessment of Effectiveness • Use • Knowledge • Behavior Change • Health Care System Use • Some projects found that manual distribution reduced utilization but others did not find that

9. Mental Health Weight Loss Addiction Recover Bereavement Diabetes Cancer Caregiver Groups for the Elderly Cancer Chronic Illness Self-Help Groups

10. Self-Help Groups • Effectiveness • Finding • American Self-Help Clearinghouse

11. Summary • Purposes of Self-Care • Health Promotion • Self-Diagnosis • Home Medical Tests • Self-Treatment of Chronic Diseases • Organizations • Self-Help Publications • Self-Help Groups

12. Purposes of Self-Care • Control of own life • Realization of exposure to health risks • Medical costs rising • May lower cost with fewer MD visits • Advertising encourages self-care • Inability of health agencies to serve • Dissatisfaction with medical care

13. Self-Treatment of Chronic Diseases

14. Health Promotion

15. Self-diagnosis