Sage Palliative Medicine & Chronic Care

This episode features Kim de Nooijer and Sophie van Dongen (Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands).   Self-management has predominantly been studied in the context of chronic diseases, where it has been defined as ‘the ability to manage the symptoms, treatment, physical and psychosocial consequences, and lifestyle changes inherent in living with the condition’. Patients with advanced cancer experience severe, multidimensional symptoms and challenges and are increasingly expected to actively manage their health and care. There still is a lack of insight into the full range of self-management experiences of patients with advanced cancer and the attitudes of relatives and healthcare professionals towards self-management of these patients. This study demonstrates that self-management strategies of patients with advanced cancer span many domains: medicine and pharmacology, lifestyle, psychology, social support, knowledge and information, navigation and coordination and medical decision-making.