Condition Management / motivation -self-care – empowerment and knowledge
Together with Active Plus (the lead organisation), Menopause Self Care and Care Right Now are delivering a unique and innovative course on managing long term conditions, based on motivation self-care and self management.
This project is commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions, and participants recruited via the local Job Centres.
Attendees Comments:
“My counsellor says my anxiety and depression have improved. My confidence levels have gone up a lot. I’m better at talking on the phone, more assertive. I’m more proactive, for example, I dealt with my referral to the pain clinic straight away rather than leave it. I’ve made a plan for the pain with my doctor, using the information and help given by Care Right Now. I was able to be more assertive when booking my appointments and it got the results; I was put on medication for my pain and referred to the pain clinic. Other people have noticed the positive difference in me”. Attendee. March 2016
The three components:
1. Active Plus, who lead and are there to support you throughout the course
Active Plus are Wounded, Injured and Sick veterans who can relate to your circumstances and have shared experiences. Their aim is to help you: Manage your condition, Understand your capabilities and identify opportunities.
This course will provide information and guidance that will improve your quality of life , build your confidence and enable you to make informed choices.
2. The Self Care sessions focus on Getting Energy, Self Care and Self Trust
Every day we make choices in what we think about, what and when we eat and drink, whether or not we take a walk, whether or not we see friends and family, when we go to bed and when we get up in the morning. Each of these choices affect how stressed we feel, how tired we are, and how much pain we feel and experience.
We will talk about choices. Some choices help us in the long and the short run but which ones ‘cost’ us and which ‘ones’ strengthen us? Which ones give us life as far as our thoughts, moods, inspirations, feelings and our physical body energy levels?
We will learn a new way to see ourselves in our body and how small and different changes in your choices can eliminate our fatigue and improve our ability to think and learn new work skills. We will cover a new way to hear ourselves and what our body is ‘saying’ and how our cravings are a gift and can lead us in the wrong direction.
3. The ‘My Medicines’ sessions focus on empowerment when dealing with clinical people
The aim of these sessions is to increase your knowledge and understanding of medicines and treatments, how they work, and where to find reliable information.
They are delivered by an experienced nurse or pharmacist.
The sessions will help you to be able to talk to your doctor, nurse, pharmacist etc. on an equal footing, and get the most out of the time you have with health professionals.
We will look at what various medicines are for, managing side-effects, other ways of treating illnesses, coping with depression, managing negative thoughts, relaxation, getting a good night’s sleep and looking after your health.
The sessions will give you an opportunity to ask general questions about medicines and related treatments.
Following the group session you will be able to have a one-to-one confidential session on your medicines with a nurse or pharmacist.
We will also give out a text number so that you can ask medicines related questions for a further month following the session and introduce you to our on-line medicines information resource www.medsinfo.guru
Developing an evidence base. Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing [WEMWBS] Scale scores shows mental wellbeing improved over the course of the project.
The average score at the beginning of the course was 41.1 and afterwards the average was 47.46. A difference of 3 to 8 points is considered meaningful, demonstrating that ‘mental wellbeing improved over the course of the project’.
Our study showed an increase of 6.3 points.
N= 30. Time period covered Jan to March 2016.
Reference: Using WEMWBS to measure the impact of your work on mental wellbeing: A practice-based user guide (2015) NHS Scotland. WWW: http://www.healthscotland.com/
Post dated: 6/5/14 Last revised: 6/4/2016 Author: steve@carerightnow.co.uk
