Achieving a balanced life in the face of chronic illness

Abstract

The increasing prevalence of chronic disease is a driver of health system reform in most economically advanced nations. A consistent theme within these reforms is building greater patient-centredness into the health care delivery. This study aims to develop an in-depth understanding of the experience of patients and family carers affected by chronic illness that will be the basis on which to propose policy and health system interventions that are patient-centred. Participants struggled with the ongoing tasks of balancing their lives with the increasing demands and intrusion of chronic illness. Their attempts to achieve a balance were seriously hampered by fragmented services, complexity in navigating health services, relationships with health professionals and others, and co-morbidity. Future policy directions include designing models of care and infrastructure that enable patients and their family carers to balance life and illness, and aligning patient-centred care not only within health services but also with community and social support services.

Acompanhamento de familias de criancas com doenca cronica: percepcao da equipe de Saude da Familia

“…Similar to these findings, one study that analyzed in-depth the attempt by families that live with chronic diseases to reclaim life balance showed that their attempts to attain balance were seriously damaged by fragmented services, complexity of transitioning between the different health care services, and the conflictual relationship with some health care professionals (20) .…”

“…Greater attention must be given to intersectoriality, aimed to attain more effective and efficient health care results (20) . Communication between social services, sectors and equipment is a great challenge (21)(22) .…”

Self-Care Strategy in Chemically-Injured Veterans: A Content Analysis

“…In a qualitative study entitled "Achieving A Balanced Life In The Face Of Chronic Illness" (27), 10 patients with chronic diseases were interviewed. The key concept of "balancing life and illness" was extracted from the experiences of participants; patients with chronic diseases stated that they had to make constant adjustments to their lives.…”

Is Australian primary care practice equipped to provide multimorbidity care?

“…Adaption centres on achieving and maintaining normalcy in the context of the social and physical limitations imposed by illness (161,163,181,(183)(184)(185). Through this work people may view themselves as two people -their past self (pre-diagnosis) and present self (post diagnosis) (186 Overall, Corbin and Strauss' (144) notion of work provides insight into the illness experience and clarifies the effort required across all aspects of life to achieve normalcy.…”

“…Day-to-day activities, such as eating, going to work, maintaining relationships, looking after the children or cleaning the house (178), all of which may be impacted by the person's condition (161,168,181,182).…”