A nice thing about self-management skills is that they can be used with a number of chronic disorders. This was recently shown in a study from England. The investigators looked at self-management as a first line treatment for men with lower urinary tract symptoms. In the study, half of the patients received self-management with standard care and half received standard care alone. Self-management patients took part in three small group sessions where they were provided with education about their condition, lifestyle advice, and training in problem solving. In the study, treatment failure was measured at 3, 6, and 12 months. The severity of symptoms was also examined. The results showed that treatment failure only occurred in 10% of the self-management group, but in 42% of patients given only standard care. These changes held up over time. Similar differences were also found in the symptom changes scores over the course of the study. The upshot is that the study showed that self-management significantly reduced the treatment failure and reduced urinary symptoms.

In thinking of self-management, you may not of thought of their use with urinary tract symptoms. We didn’t. Fortunately, someone did and the result may be a hopeful sign for others with the illness. What do you think?

van der Meulen J, Brown CT, Yap T, Cromwell DA, Rixon L, Steed L, Mulligan K, Mundy A, Newman SP, Emberton M. Self management for men with lower urinary tract symptoms: randomized controlled trial. British Medical Journal 2007, 334:25.