Posted on 15 May 2019

In the past there has been no universally accepted framework for self-care, one that adequately describes and links all the elements of self-care – people’s self-care activities and behaviours, the health system and the social context – the home, the community, the green and built environment. To address this, the Self-Care Academic Research Unit (SCARU) has brought all these factors together in a single holistic framework for self-care called the “Self-Care Matrix”.

The Self-Care Matrix provides a representation of the full extent of self-carers’ activities and of their attitudes and behaviour. The Self-Care Matrix recognises the impact on self-carers of a country’s social and health systems, as well as wider environmental and policy-based determinants of health. The Self-Care Matrix has been published and may be viewed here.