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While 89 per cent of respondents to a survey on self-care reported confidence in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, only 62 per cent felt confident managing common illnesses.

The study showed a significant association between professional guidance and increased self-care confidence, which the authors say underscores the indispensable role of healthcare professionals in fostering self-management.

The Self-Care Forum’s Living Self-Care Survey Study - which included responses from 3,255 UK adults—also reveals a clear disconnect between how patients and healthcare professionals view self-care.

While patients believe they are already practising self-care and want more responsibility for managing their health, healthcare professionals often see patients as reluctant to engage in self-care.

Access to healthcare guidance was perceived as easy by most participants (77.4 per cent), but significant gaps emerged in evaluating treatment options (51.4 per cent) and mental health information accessibility (43.6 per cent).

HCPs overwhelmingly endorsed the importance of self-care (94.7 per cent). However, they reported barriers such as a reluctance by patients to engage or take responsibility for self-care (65 per cent), and inadequate self-care understanding (60 per cent).

Health literacy deficits were perceived as a significant challenge by 46 per cent of HCPs, reinforcing the necessity for tailored educational interventions that improve patient comprehension.

Health literacy emerged as a pivotal determinant of self-care efficacy, with substantial proportions of respondents struggling to evaluate treatment options (51 per cent) and access mental health information (44 per cent).

Structural barriers such as time constraints (43 per cent) and digital exclusion (26 per cent) highlight systemic limitations that must be addressed to create equitable access to self-care resources, the study concludes.