Integrative review of the five actions understood as self-care

Abstract

There are numerous concepts of health, although the one standardized by the World Health Organization since 1946 is the "State of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely absence of disease". That said, it is understandable that the maintenance of health is also the responsibility of the same, since the health professional cannot intervene in personal aspects of the patient's life. From this analysis, it is possible to correlate the concept of health with that of self-care, which consists of giving the individual the responsibility and possibility of promoting and maintaining their own health and well-being. This concept was first published by nurse Dr. Dorothea E. Orem in 1959 and later supplemented by several authors. Currently, this term is linked to the autonomy and empowerment of the patient, giving him greater responsibility for maintaining and promoting his own health. Moreover, due to the numerous contributions and correlations linked to the initial concept of self-care, today there is no absolute definition of the term, as well as no specific actions are presented that contemplate all the areas to which self-care is related. Thus, guidance on self-care actions becomes the responsibility of the health professional and, in most cases, includes actions previously correlated to the user's underlying pathology, without addressing other actions that would also contribute to the overall well-being of the patient.