The Nexus of M-Health and Self-Efficacy

Abstract

Self-care emerged from the concept of health promotion in the 1970s while from 2000 onwards the term ‘self-management' gained popularity, with a greater focus on long-term conditions and the trend towards more holistic models of care. Although ‘self-management' and ‘self-care' are often used interchangeably, a distinction between the two concepts can be made. Both can be considered in terms of a continuum, with self-care at one end as ‘normal activity' and self-management an extension of this. Self-management support is the assistance given to patients in order to encourage daily decisions that improve health-related behaviors and clinical outcomes. Self-efficacy, which is grounded in social cognitive theory, is defined as confidence in one's ability to perform given tasks. The chapter envisions these concepts on a continuum with one pole representing mobile health and the other self-efficacy. It concludes that self-management support is the nexus of mobile health and self-efficacy.