Self-care

Social support is the physical and emotional comfort given to someone in times of need or crises and it is especially important for maintaining good physical and mental health. Despite the contribution of intelligent technological devices, which have led to the availability of various types of social support systems, the latter are still not widely known to many. These support systems are currently available in many versions, such as in tablets and smartphones, where many health information systems have been created specifically to accommodate to the needs of current mobile healthcare consumers. In this paper, we systematically review the role of social support provided via health information systems and report a qualitative study that investigates the perceptions of healthcare professionals and consumers towards incorporating social support in self-care applications. The results obtained through our study reveal that social support is associated with better health management and is a vital component to be incorporated in any novel health information system. Likewise, the results are supported by our qualitative study that indicates healthcare professionals and consumers emphasize the inclusion of the social support component in self-care applications to achieve better health outcomes.

Objective: Coronary Artery Disease is a chronic and complex disease requiring continuous medical care. The current study was conducted to for predicting Health-Related Quality of Life based on Emotion Regulation with mediating to Self-Care in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease (CAD). Methods: The research method was a descriptive study and correlation type. The statistical population comprised all patients with CAD (N=350) referring to Shohadaye Tajrish Hospital in Tehran, Iran, in the second half of 2020. Based on the Tabachnick Fidell formula, 184 subjects were selected using a convenient sampling method. Research instruments were the Self-Care Scale (Jaarsma, Halfens, Tan & et al, 2003), Emotion Regulation Questionnaire of Garnefski & Graich, 2001), and HRQol Survey (Ware, Kosinski, Keller, 1996). Data analysis was done using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and path analysis. Results: The data indicated a positive and significant mediating role of self-care in the relationship between emotion regulation (β= 0.175, p<0.01) and HRQoL of patients with CAD. Moreover, self-care and emotion regulation had a positive impact on HRQoL. Conclusion: According to findings, a part of the mutual effect of self-efficacy and emotion regulation on HRQoL is explained by self-care. On the other hand, high emotion regulation, and self-care led to better HLQoL of CAD patients.

Background: This study aimed to design and apply a self-care training package for elementary students’ health. According to the purpose of the study, two hypotheses were posed. The first hypothesis states that the self-care training package is effective for the elementary students’ health improvement and the second hypothesis is that the self-care training package is effective in promoting the health components of elementary students. Method: This research was experimental with pretest-posttest and control group design. The statistical population of the study was all elementary students of public schools in Tehran city in the academic year 2019-2020. In this study, the health questionnaire and a researcher-made self-care questionnaire were used to collect the required data. In compiling the training package, the topics were divided into eight dimensions or topics of self-care including physical, nutritional, psychological, social, sleep, virtual, sexual, and health components. Results: The results of the study showed that the self-care training package was effective in promoting primary students’ health. Conclusion: It also was effective in promoting each health component (physical health and mental health) in primary school students.

Objective: This research investigated the mediating role of self-compassion in the relationship of type D personality with psychological well-being and self-care behaviors in patients suffering from type 2 diabetes. Research Method: The statistical population of this research included all patients with type 2 diabetes in the cities of Rasht and Rezvanshahr in 2020-2021. In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 368 patients were selected through purposive consecutive sampling. The participants completed the questionnaire of the summary of diabetes self-care activities (SDSCA), type D personality scale (DS-14), Ryff's scale of psychological well-being (RSPWB), and self-compassion scale – short form (SCS-SF). The data were processed through structural equation modeling (SEM) in AMOS-24. Bootstrapping was carried out by Preacher and Hayes’ (2008) macro to analyze the mediating relationships. Results: According to the bootstrapping analysis, self-compassion plays a significantly mediating role in the relationship of type D personality with psychological well-being and self-care behaviors (in all cases p<0.0001). The coefficient of determination of the final model demonstrated that all exogenous and medicating variables can predict 89% of the psychological well-being changes and 87% of self-care behaviors. Conclusions: Self-compassion can serve as a buffer and reduce the destructive effects of the type D personality on the psychological well-being and self-care behaviors in diabetic patients. Thus, taking measures to train and strengthen self-compassion is essential in the psychological treatment of diabetic patients.