It is always interesting to see how patients use acquired self-management skills. Moser and coworkers focused on how people with type 2 diabetes experience self-management in a nurse-led, shared-care program. They described a self-management program with a qualitative descriptive, and an exploratory design with an inductive approach. Data were collected by means of in-depth interviews. The sample consisted of elderly people with type 2 diabetes in a nurse-led, shared-care setting. It was found that people with type 2 diabetes use three kinds of self-management processes: daily, off-course, and preventive. The steps for daily self-management are adhering, adapting, and acting routinely. The steps for off-course self-management are becoming aware, reasoning, deciding, acting, and evaluating. The steps for preventive self-management are experiencing, learning, being cautious, and putting into practice. These processes are interwoven and recurring.

WHAT THE ARTICLE MAY MEAN TO YOU: The authors concluded that self-management consists of a complex and dynamic set of processes embedded in one's unique life situation. This model, for example, required that patients use such processes as self-management, self-evaluation, problem solving, decision-making, and action.

A Moser et al. Self-management of type 2 diabetes mellitus: a qualitative investigation from the perspective of participants in a nurse-led, shared-care programme in the Netherlands. BMC Public Health, 2008;8:91.