Description/Overview: The number of persons with one or more chronic conditions is increasing and individuals and families are assuming greater responsibility for management of health conditions. Knowledge of effective and efficient interventions used to facilitate and maintain health behavior change lags far behind diagnosis and treatment of conditions. New knowledge is necessary if the potential for scientific advance is to be realized. The purpose of the Self-Management Science Center (SMSC), a NINR funded P20 Center, is to develop and test interventions, technologies and decision support systems to enhance self-management of individuals and families with the expectation of cost effective health outcomes. Self-management is a complex and multidimensional construct including the context in which self-management occurs; processes that enhance knowledge and beliefs, self-regulation, and social facilitation; and proximal and distal outcomes including self-management behaviors, cost and health status. The three papers in this symposium describe the application of the Theory of the Individual and Family Self-Management. In the first paper, family self-management in the home addressing unmet needs of individuals with dementia is investigated. An intervention for caregiver assessment of needs and activities to meet those needs is being tested. In the second paper, barriers and effective strategies for the self-management of those living obstructive sleep apnea are explored in depth. Insights for intervention development targeted at individuals’ desired level of involvement in their care are identified. The third paper examines how the context of welfare to work policies relates to how women in poverty are challenged to self-manage their health. These examples of research from the SMSC demonstrate the importance of nursing research that advances the science of individual and family self-management and the understanding of the multiple and complex factors that influence positive health outcomes.

Learner Objective #1: The learner will be able to describe the components of the Theory of the Individual and Family Self-Management .

Learner Objective #2: The learner will be able to describe the application of the SMSC Model as presented in the three studies.