User:Mevanko/Self-care

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Self-care has been defined as the process of establishing behaviors to ensure holistic well-being of oneself, to promote health, and to actively management of illness when it occurs. Individuals engage in some form of self-care daily with food choices, exercise, sleep, and dental care. Self-care is not only a solo activity as the community -- a group that supports the person performing self-care -- overall plays a large role in access to, implementation of, and success of self-care activities. While the concept of self care has received increased attention in recent years, it has ancient origins. Socrates has been credited with founding the self-care movement in ancient Greece, and care are of oneself and loved ones has been shown to exist since human beings appeared on earth. Self-care has also been connected to the Black Feminist movement through civil rights activist and poet Audre Lorde. Self-care was used to preserve black feminist's identities, energize their activism, and preserve their minds during the civil rights movement. Self-care remains a primary form of personal and community healthcare worldwide; self-care practices vary greatly around the world.

Routine self-care is important when someone is not experiencing any symptoms of illness, but self-care becomes essential when illness occurs. General benefits of routine self-care include prevention of illness, improved mental health, and comparatively better quality of life. Self-care practices can greatly vary from individual to individual as it is a very personal act. Self-care is seen as a partial solution to the global rise in health care costs that is placed on governments worldwide.

A lack of self-care in terms of personal health, hygiene and living conditions is referred to as self-neglect. The use of caregivers and Personal Care Assistants may be needed. There is a growing body of knowledge related to these home care workers.

Self-Care and Illness
Chronic illness (a health condition that is persistent and long lasting, often impacts one's whole life, e.g., heart failure, diabetes, high blood pressure) requires behaviors that control the illness, decrease symptoms, and improve survival such as medication adherence and symptom monitoring. An acute illness like an infection (e.g., COVID) requires the same types of self-care behaviors required of people with a chronic illness, but the medication adherence and symptom monitoring behaviors associated with an acute illness are typically short lived. Routine health maintenance self-care behaviors that individuals engage in (e.g., adequate sleep) are still required of those dealing with acute or chronic illness.

For the majority of people with a chronic illness, time spent having that illness managed by a health professional is vastly outweighed by time spent in self-care. In people with chronic illness, self-care is associated with fewer symptoms, fewer hospitalizations, better quality of life, and longer survival compared to individuals in whom self-care is poor. Self-care can be physically and mentally difficult for those with chronic illness, as their illness is persistent and treated in a vastly different manner from an acute illness.

Factors Influencing Self-Care

 * There are numerous factors that affect self-care. These factors can be grouped as personal factors (e.g., person, problem, and environment), external factors, and processes. 
 * Personal factors:
 * Lack of motivation: when one doesn’t have enough energy. This can be caused by stress, anxiety, or other mental health illnesses 
 * Cultural beliefs: this includes traditional gender roles, family relationships, collectivism. This can also affect self care behaviors. 
 * Self-efficacy or confidence: one’s confidence can positively or negatively affect their mental state. 
 * Functional and cognitive abilities: by not being perfect humans, one tends to focus on their weakness. 
 * Support from others: such as from family or friends can be crucial to have a healthy and positive mindset to do self-care. 
 * Access to care: depending on the self-care some require specific resources or objects in order to carry out 
 * External factors
 * Living situation: can greatly affect an individual’s self-care. 
 * Surrounding environment: must be safe and promote self-care for all residents. 
 * Proximity of health care facilities: are important to have at a close radius from one’s household. As well as office/clinic opening hours and affordability must be taken into consideration. 
 * Processes
 * Experiences
 * Knowledge
 * Skill
 * Values

ERASE →FIRST PARAGRAPH →  External personal factors such as access to healthcare and one's living environment greatly influence self-care. Social determinants of health play an important role in self-care practices. Access to care is one major determinant of an individual's ability to carry out self-care maintenance behaviors. This includes having access to transportation to visit a health care facility, offices/clinics opening hours, and affordability. Access to facilities that promote self-care within an individual's living environment is another factor that influences self-care maintenance. For example, access to a safe environment for walking or exercise facilities such as a gym greatly influence self-care maintenance behaviors as does access to healthy food.

ADD ONE SENTENCE IN PARAGRAPH --> Self-care practices are shaped by what are seen as the proper lifestyle choices of local communities.Social determinants of health play an important role in self-care practices.

Black Feminist Philosophy
The notion of self-care as a revolutionary act in the context of social trauma was developed as a social justice practice in Black feminist thought the US. Notably, in the 70’s, civil rights activist and poet Audre Lorde wrote that in the context of multiple oppressions as a black woman, "caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare." Lorde’s philosophy states that as an oppressed community member, the preservation of her identity through acts that energize and sustain her is a form of activism and resistance. This self-care focuses on any acts which are healing and beneficial to one’s survival and thereby enable resistance.

This initial interpretation of self-care differs from the popularized version seen today. With the rise in social media and capitalist marketing, a more whitewashed and commercialized interpretation has shifted what is normally considered self-care. Differing from Lorde’s definition, new self-care interpretations center on the indulgence of self in accordance with white beauty standards and trends. Examples of this can be the purchasing of feminine beauty goods or sharing of activities or dietary fads. In addition to this difference, modern day self-care as advertised on social media ignores the communal aspect of care which Lorde thought to be essential. With the rise of the term in the medical usages, for instance, to combat anxiety, as well as the commercialization of products with linkages with self-care, the association of the term with black feminism has fallen away in clinical and popular usage. However, in feminist and queer theory, the link to Lorde and other scholars is retained.

Western Philosophy
In one interpretation, French philosopher Michel Foucault understood the art of living (French art de vivre, Latin ars vivendi) and the care of self (French le souci de soi) to be central to philosophy. The third volume of his three-volume study The History of Sexuality, published in 1976, is dedicated to this notion. For Foucault, the notion of care for the self (epimeleia heautou,) following a traditionally Western (Ancient Greek and Roman) interpretation of self-care comprises an attitude towards the self, others, and the world, as well as a certain form of attention. For Foucault, the pursuit of the care for one's own well-being also comprises self-knowledge (gnōthi seauton).

Later on, the self-care deficit nursing theory was developed by Dorothea Orem between 1959 and 2001. This popular Western theory centers on the medical facet of self-care, and explores the use of professional care and an orientation towards resources. Under Orem's model, self-care has limits when its possibilities have been exhausted, therefore making professional care legitimate. These deficits in self-care are seen as shaping the best role a nurse may provide. There are two phases in Orem's self-care: the investigative and decision-making phase, and the production phase. Under this theory, Orem begins to assess the importance of others and support in a more communal form of self-care, while still centering on the physical and medical aspects of care as opposed to the more spiritual or radical political resistance theories. This idea of communal care was pioneered by the Black Feminist s Community in an effort to preserve themselves and resist oppression.