Evaluation of patient self-management outcomes in health care: a systematic review

Background: The importance of self-management and its intervention for improving the ability and skill of self-management has been discussed in literatures. It is, however, unclear how to choose the fitted, objective and accurate evaluation system when assessing the outcome. Aim: The aim of this article was to establish a general evaluation system for skill and ability of self-management in chronic diseases through systematic review on different evaluation indicators and scales. Method: A systematic search of six electronic databases was conducted. Two authors independently reviewed each qualified study for relevance and significance. Subsequently, main evaluation indicators and scales were identified and categorized into themes and sub-themes. Results: Nineteen articles were identified in this review. Among them, six main evaluation indicators of self-management, including frequently used scales, were extracted and tabulated. Self-efficacy, health behaviour/attitude, health status, health service utilization, quality of life and psychological indicators were the main indicators in evaluating self-management outcome, and they could be used alone or in combination flexibly according to the different goals of programmes. Conclusion: Accurate evaluation of skill and ability of self-management is crucial not only in baseline data collection but also in proving the effectiveness of intervention. The outcomes of this study provide future researchers or caregivers with a better understanding and a series of good choices in self-management outcome evaluation.