Patient Self-Advocacy - WHAT is it; HOW to do it?

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND self-advocacy for EVERYONE, but especially for people with disabilities!! Stanford Univ. in the US came up with a program entitled: Chronic Disease Self-Management - see this link: http://patienteducation.stanford.edu/pr...ograms/cdsmp.html for more information.

Canada, Australia, and the UK have a very similar program called "Expert Patient"; see this link: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/www.dh.gov.uk/en/Aboutus/MinistersandDepartmentLeaders/ChiefMedicalOfficer/ProgressOnPolicy/ProgressBrowsableDocument/DH_4102757 or this site: http://www.expertpatients.co.uk/

Here is the BEST website that I've found that explains the concept in general and has TONS of info; from New Zealand:

http://www.healthnavigator.org.nz/keeping-well/generic-self-management-course/research-additional-information

Finally, I've personally written about this concept in my own blogs on my website: http://www.disabilitykey.com/ - the archived blog way back in 2005 or so. Here's a link to that archived Blog; scroll down about 1/3 of the way to the AUGUST 16, 2005 entry: http://www.disabilitykey.com/blog/

I've taken the Stanford course and am a Certified Chronic Disease Self-Manager Trainer. With this knowledge, I've created a FREE ebooklet about how best to become a Self-Advocate. For a copy, please email me: csmagura@yahoo.com.

Finally, I find that most people have problems getting their doctors to actually LISTEN to them - let alone partner with them. It's more prevalent in the US and is called "Doctor (or illness)-Centered" medicine, versus PATIENT-CENTERED medicine. Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand are MILES ahead of the US when it comes to patient-centered medicine.

Here's a current study: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0999/is_7284_322/ai_71820692/