Healthy Change - Chronic Disease Self-Management Program

For Adults of All Ages with Diabetes, Arthritis, Stroke, Hypertension, Lung Disease, Depression or Fibromyalgia. Caregivers Welcome.

Find out how to have the confidence to manage all aspects of your life – including emotions and daily activities as well as the medical side. Learn effective tips and strategies that will help you improve your quality of life.

How Does the Healthy Change Program Work?

Every workshop is free for adults of all ages and their caregivers
Participants meet for 2-1/2 hour classes, once a week for six weeks
Groups have between 8-12 participants with two trained leaders facilitate each workshop
Workshops take place in community settings such as senior centres, churches, libraries and hospitals or via videoconferencing
The program is offered throughout the year in Northwestern Ontario communities
Each participant receives a free copy of the “Living a Healthy Life with Chronic Conditions” Wellness Guide
Pre-registration is required. Sign up on-line today! It’s free and easy.

Healthy Change Workshop

Topics Include:

Establishing action plans
Setting exercise and nutrition goals
Pain management
Proper use of medications
Making treatment decisions
Managing symptoms such as fatigue anddifficult emotions
Working with your health care team

CDSM Presentation

Evidence Base for the “Healthy Change” Chronic Disease Self-Management Program

The “Healthy Change” workshop (Chronic Disease Self-Management Program) has been extensively evaluated and researched over many decades.

In the past 20 years or so, the Stanford Patient Education Research Center (formerly the Stanford Arthritis Center Education Office) has developed, tested, and evaluated self-management programs for people with chronic health problems. Their first program was the Arthritis Self-Management Course (also known as the Arthritis Self-Help Workshop), which became the prototype for all of their self-management programs. Every Stanford Self-Management program is designed to help people gain self-confidence in their ability to control their symptoms and how their health problems affect their lives.

We recommend this study summarizing the results of research:

Review of Findings on Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP) Outcomes
Physical, Emotional & Health-Related Quality of Life, Healthcare Utilization and Costs
CDSMP results in significant, measurable improvements in patient outcomes and quality of life. CDSMP also saves enough through reductions in healthcare expenditures to pay for itself within the first year.

Self Management Toolkit
We also recommend this website that helps healthcare providers to learn self-management support skills:
www.selfmanagementtoolkit.ca