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Self‐care agency and perceived health among people using advanced medical technology at home
Author(s) -
Fex Angelika,
Flensner Gullvi,
Ek AnnaChristina,
Söderhamn Olle
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of advanced nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.948
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 1365-2648
pISSN - 0309-2402
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2648.2011.05781.x
Subject(s) - feeling , context (archaeology) , agency (philosophy) , sense of agency , health care , psychology , scale (ratio) , health technology , everyday life , medicine , gerontology , social psychology , paleontology , philosophy , physics , epistemology , quantum mechanics , economics , biology , economic growth , political science , law
fex a., flensner g., ek a.‐c. & söderhamn o. (2011) Self‐care agency and perceived health among people using advanced medical technology at home. Journal of Advanced Nursing 68 (4), 806–815. Abstract Aim. This article reports a study of self‐care agency and perceived health in a group of people using advanced medical technology at home. Background. An increasing number of people are using medical technology for self‐care. Few studies describe daily life in this context at an overriding level, irrespective of the specific sort of technology. A connection between self‐care, perceived health and sense of coherence has previously been implied. Methods. A descriptive, comparative, cross‐sectional quantitative design was used. Data were collected from a questionnaire during the winter of 2009/2010. The questionnaire addressed perceived health and daily life with medical technology. Swedish versions of the Appraisal of Self‐care Agency scale and the 13‐item version of Antonovsky’s sense of coherence scale were included. Results. The questionnaire was answered by 180 adults performing self‐care at home involving long‐term oxygen, a ventilator, or peritoneal‐ or haemo‐dialysis. Health‐related and technology‐related variables in daily life were mostly highly satisfactory. Perceived health was rated significantly lower among participants using long‐term oxygen. Sufficient sense of coherence, knowledge of how to use technology, close contact with others and not feeling helpless contributed positively to self‐care agency. Positive contributing factors for perceived health were being satisfied with life, having an active life and not feeling helpless, whereas age was a negative factor. Conclusion. Daily life is manageable for people in this context. Long‐term oxygen treatment and advanced age can be regarded as risk factors for perceiving ill health.