The importance of self-management programmes in a comprehensive care approach for patients with atrial fibrillation

Today it is well accepted, that patients are active participants in their own health and treatment, and the term self-management is a common term within health education and promotion programmes. The literature describes various self-management programmes for patients with different diseases. The programmes are generally based on social cognitive theory, which Bandura describes as to involve knowledge of the specific disease, perceived self-efficacy, health goal setting, and strategies to retain or improve health outcomes.1
Many definitions of self-management exist and are not a straightforward concept. But, self-management, in this context, may be defined as ‘to be active in managing a disease’ which, for many patients with chronic illness, may be a lifetime task. Lorig et al.2 describe three self-management tasks for patients with...