The Effects of Social and Physical Functioning and Self-Management Abilities on Well-Being Among Patients with Cardiovascular Diseases, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, and Diabetes

To increase our understanding of relationships between well-being and social/physical functioning and self-management abilities (SMAs) among chronically ill patients. The cross-sectional questionnaire-based study included 1,254 patients with cardiovascular diseases, 725 with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and 253 with diabetes (total, 2232/4200; 53 % response rate). Social and physical functioning correlated significantly with SMAs and well-being (all p ≤ 0.001). After controlling for background characteristics, multiple regression showed that social and physical functioning were still related to SMAs (β = 0.32-0.12; both p ≤ 0.001) and well-being (β = 0.39-0.14; both p ≤ 0.001). The strengths of relationships between well-being and social (β = 0.39 vs. 0.20) and physical (β = 0.14 vs. 0.07) functioning declined significantly (both p ≤ 0.001) when the SMA mediator was included in the equation. SMAs of chronically ill are related to their social and physical functioning. We found indications that chronically ill patients reporting lower levels of social and physical functioning are worse self-managers than are those with higher levels of functioning. Furthermore, SMAs may mediate the relationships between social and physical functioning and well-being. Self-management interventions aiming to enhance SMAs more broadly than traditional interventions aiming only to prevent functional decline are expected to improve SMAs and enhance well-being among chronically ill patients.

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