The international Center for Self-Care Research

People with chronic conditions must be actively involved in self-care. Of 8,760 hours in a year, only about 10 hours or 0.001% are spent with healthcare professionals.

All other health maintenance, monitoring and management activities are done by individuals and their families as self-care activities. Performing self-care will improve well-being, decrease morbidity and mortality, and reduce healthcare costs.

Research has revealed the complexity of self-care. A wide variety of factors influence the decisions that people make about self-care. Significant knowledge gaps remain on how to influence those decisions in a manner that supports self-care. Our knowledge of the effects of self-care on outcomes is relatively undeveloped.

Our research

The vision of this Center is a world where self-care is prioritized by individuals, families, and communities and is the first line of approach in every health care encounter. The mission of the Center is to lead the self-care research endeavor, improving conceptual clarity and promoting interdisciplinary work informed by a shared vision.

Current Challenges and Opportunities

Many people across the world are studying self-care and we anticipate that this research will continue. However, enthusiasm for self-care research is now so robust that it is becoming fragmented. Isolated research groups may waste time and effort in creating something that already exists. Repeating studies in specific countries or specific patient groups may waste energies that would be better used to contribute to an international and multicultural body of knowledge.

Deepen Understanding

We need to deepen our theoretical understanding of the mechanisms underlying self-care behaviors. Without depth in understanding why, when, and how our interventions work, interventions may reflect guesswork. With a deeper understanding of barriers and facilitators of self-care we can develop and test promising interventions, improve our theoretical thinking, and formulate new hypotheses. Collaborating will deepen our understanding of self-care.

Promote Continuity

Currently researchers working worldwide are developing the field of self-care research. Their work may be temporarily funded but when funds run out, their work often ceases. This situation has resulted in a paucity of advanced projects answering the critical questions in the field. Possibilities to merge research resources in this Center can promote better continuity through a joint research agenda and organizing of international studies.

Upcoming events

Self-Care in Chronic Illness research course

The course will introduce the definitions, predictors, measurement, and outcomes of self-care in chronic illness. Literature from various disciplines will be used to provide a broadened perspective of the self care construct, theories and models and various issues that patients face when dealing with chronic illness.
This course includes web lectures (streamed and recorded), tutorial groups, and seminars. Additionally there are both individual assignments and group activities.

Course leaders: Anna Strömberg, Tiny Jaarsma and online guest lectures from Barbara Riegel.

The course is organized by Linköping University

The course gives 5 ECT (5 HP)

<p>International week</p>

International week 2025 will take place from 10-14 March. In 2025 the “international week” at the division of Nursing at Linköping University will be dedicated to research on self-care in chronic illness with focus on theories, instruments and interventions. We include lectures from experts in the field, workshops including presentations and discussions around the research of the participants and plenty of time for networking with colleagues in the field. You can (if you want) also present your work to your colleagues during short ‘rapid fire style’ presentations.

Management: Anna Strömberg, Tiny Jaarsma och Barbara Riegel.

The course is organized by Linköping University

For more information, contact Nora Östrup (nora.ostrup@liu.se)

8FO0139 - Self-Care in Chronic Illness

Self-care is a term that encompasses health-promoting behavior, adherence to treatment and lifestyle advice, and personal decisions.

Publications

A Middle-Range Theory of Self-Care of Chronic Illness

This article describes a middle-range theory of self-care that addresses the process of maintaining health with health promoting practices within the context of the management required of a chronic illness.
Riegel B, Jaarsma T, Stromberg A. A Middle-Range Theory of Self-Care of Chronic Illness. Advances in Nursing Science, 2012, 35(3):194-204.

Integrating Symptoms into the Middle-Range Theory of Self-Care of Chronic Illness

In this update to the Middle-Range Theory of Self-Care of Chronic Illness, symptoms are clearly integrated with the self-care behaviors of self-care maintenance, monitoring, and management.
Riegel B, Jaarsma T, Lee CS, Stromberg A. Integrating Symptoms into the Middle-Range Theory of Self-Care of Chronic Illness. Advances in Nursing Science, 2019, 42(3), 206-215.

The Situation Specific Theory of Heart Failure Self-Care: Revised and Updated

Heart failure self-care involves the processes of self-care maintenance, symptom perception, and self-care management. The original theory was published in 2008 and updated in 2016.
Riegel B, Dickson VV, Faulkner KM. The situation specific theory of heart failure self-care: Revised and updated. Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, 2016: 31(3), 226-235. PMID: 25774844. DOI: 10.1097/JCN.0000000000000244

A Situation-Specific Theory of Caregiver Contributions to Heart Failure Self-Care

The purpose of this article is to describe a situation-specific theory of caregiver contributions to heart failure self-care. Caregiver contributions include interacting processes of self-care maintenance, symptom monitoring and perception, and self-care management. Caregiver confidence and cultural values are discussed as important influences on caregiver contributions to HF self-care.
Vellone E, Riegel B, Alvaro R. A situation-specific theory of caregiver contributions to heart failure self-care. Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, 34(2), 166-173, 2019. DOI: 10.1097/JCN.0000000000000549

Self-Care Research: Where are we now? Where are we going?

In this article we address the current state of self-care research and propose an agenda for future research based on the inaugural conference of the International Center for Self-Care Research held in Rome, Italy in June 2019.
Riegel B, Dunbar SB, Fitzsimons D, Freedland K, Lee CS, Middleton S, Stromberg A, Webber D, Vellone E, Jaarsma T. Self-care research: Where are we now? Where are we going? International Journal of Nursing Studies, 2020.

Self-Care Research: How to Grow the Evidence Base?

In this article we address major methodological challenges with regard to the definition of self-care, use of theory, and research design, intended to provide guidance to researchers in this field.
Jaarsma T, Stromberg A, Dunbar SB, Fitzsimons D, Lee CS, Middleton S, Vellone E, Freedland K, Riegel B. Self-care research: How to grow the evidence base? International Journal of Nursing Studies, 2020.

Characteristics of Self-Care Interventions for Patients with a Chronic Condition…

The objective of this scoping review was to provide a comprehensive and standardized description of cross-condition interventions used to enhance self-care in patients with a chronic condition.
Riegel B, Westland H, Iovino P, Barelds I, Bruins Slot J, Stawnychy MA, Osokpo OH, Tarbi E, Trappenburg JCA, Vellone E, Stromberg A, Jaarsma T. Characteristics of Self-Care Interventions for Patients with a Chronic Condition: A Scoping Review. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 2020.

Factors Related to Self-Care in Heart Failure Patients…

A wide range of factors can influence self-care behavior. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the recent heart failure literature to provide an overview on which factors might be suitable to consider to make self-care interventions more successful.
Jaarsma T, Cameron J, Riegel B, Stromberg A. Factors related to self-care in heart failure patients according to the middle-range theory of self-care of chronic illness: a literature update. Current Heart Failure Reports, 2017: 14(2), 71-77. PMID: 28213768. DOI: 10.1007/s11897-017-0324-1.

Research group

We bring a unique perspective to existing self-care centers. Existing centers emphasize a medical model (i.e. disease focus) or a community perspective addressing the promotion of self-care behavior in regions and countries across the world. Our focus is theory-driven research.
Co-Directors of the Center are Professors Riegel and Jaarsma, experts recognized worldwide as leaders in the study of self-care. Individually and together they have published more than 200 articles on the topic of self-care.
Coordinating Council members are Professors Anna Stromberg (Sweden) and Ercole Vellone (Italy). Both have a deep understanding of theories of self-care and extensive research experience in self-care.

Anna Strömberg

Deputy Dean, Professor

Tiny Jaarsma

Professor

Barbara Riegel

Professor emerita

Ercole Vellone