건강한 노년기생활 수단으로서의 셀프케어

self-care as a Health Keeping Method for the Aged: A Literature Review

The increase of chronic disease and medical expenses for the elderly, especially for old-old are the major factors to drop the quality of life among the aged. Self-care which has been studied and developed some in- ventories in nursing science for years was reviewed and explored the pos- sibility for health promotion or maintenance and for saving medical costs of the aged. The concept of self-care was re-defined and self-care compo- nents were investigated. Self-care was considered as specific activities or compliances of the patients under the medical professionals direction or guidance, e.g., diabetes mellitus, hemodialysis, and chronic ob- structive pulmonary disease, etc. In this study, self-care defined as voluntary or independent activities with some purposes in health promo- tion or maintenance of the aged. And not only chronic disease patients but also healthy older persons participate in self-care activities, and self-care activities do not confine individual level, but family and com- munity-provided activities. Self-care components are physical, mental, and psychological efforts or activities to promote or keep health of the aged. They are healthy life style, psychological well-being, physical per- formances, and other things related to health.