Women's self-management of chronic illnesses in the context of caregiving: a grounded theory study

Aims and objectives. Uncover how women self-manage their own chronic illness while taking care of a dependent relative. Background. International policies place special emphasis in promoting interventions addressed to control, prevent and care for people with chronic health conditions. Self-management is a crucial part of this care. Caregivers are more prone to have chronic illness than non-caregivers. They are confronted with dilemmas about taking care of themselves while taking care of their dependent relative and the rest of their families. Caregivers articulate strategies to enable them to focus their energy on caring. Design. Qualitative study using constructivist grounded theory. Methods. Thirty-nine women caregivers with a chronic illness participated in the study. Twenty-three semi-structured interviews and two focus groups were carried out between April 2010–December 2011. Data were analysed using grounded theory procedures. Findings. Self-management helps women caregivers with a chronic illness to balance the demands of their own illness and those of the dependent relative. They self-manage their illness by self-regulating the treatment, by regulating their strength and by controlling their emotions. Conclusions. Women caregivers integrate effectively and creatively the management of their chronic illnesses within the complexities of family care. This renders their health needs invisible and reaffirms them as capable caregivers. Relevance to clinical practice. Identifying self-management strategies of women caregivers allow health professionals to acknowledge and reinforce effective self-care measures and to deter those that are ineffective and lessen their quality of life.This project was financed by Health Research Fund of the Spanish Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs P10/00558 and the Foundation for Biomedical Research at the Puerta de Hierro University Hospital in Majadahonda, Madrid