A WEB-BASED GUIDE TO TAKING CHARGE OF YOUR HEALTH
Welcome to your self-management web-based guide. This website will help you manage four important aspects of your life after kidney transplantation.
- Medical issues you will manage with your doctor and other members of the healthcare team.
- How you can manage the areas of your life affected by the kidney transplantation.
- How your emotions respond to changes in your life because of your kidney transplantation.
- How roles in life may change or evolve after kidney transplantation for you and/or your family members.
Did you know?
To become an effective after kidney transplanted manager, you will need to develop a set of skills around problem-solving, decision-making, making the best use of existing resources, working with your healthcare team, and developing action plans specifically tailored for different aspects of your after-transplant experience.
Self-management has been defined as managing the medical, emotional and social challenges of a chronic condition in daily life with the aim of achieving optimal quality of life. Evidence shows that optimal self-management can indirectly improve the quality of life for many people living with chronic conditions.
Although each person experiences the process after transplantation differently, you should find some topics covered on this website to be relevant.
The website is divided into five main sections:
- Getting started.
- Healthy lifestyle for all.
- Dealing with challenges after kidney transplantation.
- Partnering effectively with your healthcare team.
- Putting it all together: your personal plan of action.
Getting started
“Getting started” is for everyone. It has material to help you think about what is important in your life and to identify one or more areas that you would like to develop. This section also gives you the opportunity to think about particular aspects of your personality (and your life) that may push you toward or hinder you from taking action to respond to changes in your life after kidney transplantation. After thinking about what aspects of your life you would like to make progress in and reasons why it might be challenging, the next step is to set specific measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely goals (SMART goals). Finally, you will find tips to help build and maintain your motivation to work toward those goals and some suggestions in how prioritizing goals, monitoring progress, and making adjustments as needed. The following subtopics will give you some ideas to help you realize your goals.
Healthy Lifestyle for All
The “Healthy lifestyle for all” comprises subtopics that are relevant to everyone who has or has not undergone a kidney transplantation and relate to developing a healthy lifestyle. Specifically, the topics covered are: eating a healthy diet; getting your vaccines; limiting alcohol consumption; managing stress and negative mood; moving your body; stopping smoking; traveling abroad; getting a good night’s sleep.
Dealing With Challenges After Kidney Transplantation
The “Dealing with Challenges after kidney transplantation” section presents a set of strategies and suggestions to help you deal with the physical and emotional challenges that kidney transplantation may bring. You can benefit from developing self-management skills in these areas and applying the research evidence that is summarized in these subtopics. The SMART goals you have set will guide you to select the topics that are most relevant to you.
Each targeted topic is structured the same way. The first part contains information about the topic of interest under the heading- “Did You Know?” Also presented is research evidence “Research Evidence Shows” followed by a self-assessment tool or “How Am I Doing?”. Once you know how you are doing, you will want to know “What Can I Do?” And each topic provides specific activities targeting that particular goal. Our team of experts, in consultation with kidney transplant recipients and healthcare professionals in this area have tailored the activities to achieve the most benefit with the minimum equipment required. “How Can I Do It” section provides a tool to help you to make a plan, and to keep track of what you do and how you are doing.
Partnering Effectively with Your HealthCare Team
The “Partnering Effectively with Your HealthCare Team” section provides suggestions and information about how to partner effectively with your healthcare team. Subtopics covered include: “How to get the most out of each healthcare meeting”, and “Using the Internet Effectively” which will help you to identify those internet sites that provide accurate, reliable and up-to-date information.
Putting in Your Personal Plan of Action
The section “Putting in your personal plan of action”, presents a tool that may help you put it all together and put words into action. Here you will find a suggestion to build your personal plan of action. From the information you gathered in these sections, you can now use the agenda format to make a day-to-day plan to balance your life after kidney transplantation.