Self-Management of Health
Report published 8th May 2026
Written by George Ellis.
What we found
Through an online survey and reaching out to people across West Yorkshire, we heard from 155 people about their thoughts and experiences of self-management; what has helped and what the challenges are. This report includes data from our survey responses as well as previous surveys and other sources.
We have structured this report around a series of themes that affect people's ability to self-manage, based on what people told us.
- Cost of living and meeting basic needs.
- Existing conditions and disabilities.
- Accessible information and communication.
- Confidence and motivation.
- Family, carers and other support networks.
For each theme, we have explored the barriers and challenges people are facing, as well as guidance on what people told us helps them self-manage.
HIGHLIGHTS
People already self-manage their health every day. This will be a bigger part of people's lives if they have one or more long-term conditions or disabilities.
Successful self-management requires access to quality support on a needs-led and ongoing basis. This means shifting away from seeing self-management as solely led by individuals, towards understanding it as a shared responsibility between them and services.
Supported self-management approaches need to look beyond simply influencing behaviour change and consider wider systemic barriers.
There can be significant risks to people’s health and wellbeing where self-management is promoted but not supported or overseen.
There are lots of things that can be done to increase the chance of supported self-management being successful – these are outlined in the different sections of this report.
We would like service providers, teams and individual professionals to use this report, especially the 'what helps?' sections of it, to reflect on what more they can do to work with people to ensure the best change of supported self-management being successful.
Click on the button below to read the report.
Please get in touch if you require the report in a different format. Either call 0113 898 0035, email info@westyorkshirehealthwatch.co.uk or text 07717 309 843.