Dear Readers:

Yesterday, the 300th entry was entered on this site. They summarize a lot of studies relating to the self-management of chronic illness. When initiating the site, I meant it for patients with different chronic diseases or conditions. Somehow, the focus drifted towards being aimed mainly at health care professionals. I suppose this shift occurred because I heard more from readers in this latter group than I did from patients. I very much regret the changing of goals. From now on, two sections on WHAT THIS STUDY MAY MEAN TO YOU will be added. One will be directed towards professionals working with chronic illness; the second will be aimed at patients. By doing so, I hope I can satisfy more readers (however few there may be!).

In looking back on the period I’ve been summarizing studies, three major themes have emerged. First, there is a lot of imaginative and creative research being conducted on self-management by excellent investigators. As much as I can, I highlight these studies. Second, there is a lot of not so good research that gets published. Examples include studies that describe complex investigations yet yield little meaningful data on self-management of a chronic illness. Whatever positive findings were mentioned often are fading by the time the study was concluded. The fact that no long-term data is gathered is a major failure. As repeatedly observed, chronic conditions require chronic follow-up. After all, a patient with a chronic illness is usually sentenced to needing to use self-management skills for the remainder of his or her life. We need to help all patients over the long haul. Finally, too many studies appear to be attempts to reinvent the wheel. This type of research is a waste of time and money, let alone the equally valuable time and expectations of patients. With such marvels as PubMed and other web sites, it is easy to determine types of investigations conducted around the world on self-management on a wide gamut of conditions. (Reviewing the literature and building on what findings have been reported, I might add, seems to be more prevalent outside the United States than within it.)

We’ll set out on the next 300 entries with the aim of assisting both patients and health care providers. We hope to achieve this goal. If we don’t, please let me know.

Tom Creer, Ph.D.