Self Management Course for people with chronic health conditions.
A new programme is being rolled out by St. James’s Hospital, in conjunction with the Irish Haemophilia Society on living with a long term health condition. This award-winning programme was originally developed in Stanford, California and has been successfully run internationally in a wide variety of health conditions. The programme teaches you skills which improve your ability to manage you own health. It has been associated with significant improvement in pain control and overall health and wellbeing.
We hope to be in a position to run this course at least twice annually.
Details of the first course are as follows:
| Venue | Location | Date | Time | Duration |
| Centre for Learning and Development | St. James\’s Hospital | 8th September | 10.00am – 12.30pm | 6 week course |
If you are interested and can commit to attending on 6 consecutive Monday mornings, please contact Niamh Larkin, Clinic Nurse Manager at nlarkin@stjames.ie or register online by clicking here.
What does it involve?
This course will teach you how to deal with the daily challenges that your condition may present, through a series of simple techniques including:
- pain-management skills
- coping with fatigue
- planning and goal setting
- healthy living and weight management
- managing your relationship with your healthcare team
- dealing with negative emotions
- exercise techniques for weak and damaged joints
- understanding your medication
The Living Well with a Long Term Health Condition programme is taught over a six-week period in weekly two-hour sessions. Each programme usually has 18 people and is led by trained leaders. Most of the leaders have long term condition themselves or are health care professionals. They are all interested in helping people with long-term conditions, and have successfully completed a Leader Training Workshop. The programme is designed for anyone over the age of 18.
How will this course help me?
This course is designed to help you to do the things you enjoy doing, with less negative impact as a result of your condition. Previous participants of similar programmes reported that it had complemented their medication and made a big difference to their quality of life. Previous results show that on completion participants have:
- Improved their ability to cope with pain by 50%.
- Increased their amount of regular exercise by 72%.
- Improved their attitude towards living with their condition by 63%.
- Increased their knowledge of their condition by 59%.
What makes this course different?
The course is delivered by people who have a long term condition and are partnered by a health professional working in the area, such as a haematologist nurse specialist or a physiotherapist. They therefore understand the challenges presented by a chronic condition.