Effectiveness of a patient self-management programme for breast cancer as a chronic illness: a non-randomised controlled clinical trial Siew Yim Loh & Tanya Packer & Karuthan Chinna & Kia Fatt Quek Received: 27 November 2012 / Accepted: 24 February 2013 # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013 Abstract Purpose Patient self-management enables living with a chronic disease effectively. This study examines the effec- tiveness of a 4-week self-management programme to enable self-management of the numerous after-effects and with breast cancer as a chronic disease. Methods Upon ethical approval, 147 multiethnic survivors (stages I–III breast cancer) received either a 4-week self- management intervention (n =68) or usual care (n =78) on a controlled clinical trial in a medical centre. The facilitator- led group intervention provides self-management support and skills for managing the medical, emotional and role tasks. Survivors completed the pre- and post-intervention measures on quality of life, distress and participation inventory. Results Multiple analyses of covariance (adjusted for baseline measures) showed significant differences between groups [F(6, 129)=2.26, p =0.04 at post-test and F(6, 129)=4.090, p <0.001 at follow-up]. Post hoc analysis indicated signifi- cantly better outcome on all measures. At follow-up, the experimental group had a mean quality of life (QOL) score of 3.39 [CI=1.37–5.42; p =0.001] greater than the control. Conclusions There is preliminary evidence that the 4-week self-management intervention enhance the QOL of women with breast cancer, by enabling them to better self-manage the numerous medical, emotional and role tasks. Further randomised trials are warranted. Implication for Cancer Survivors Survivors receiving self- management programme report improved HRQL compared with those on usual care. Although time can attenuate the participation limitation and distress of survivors, self- management programmes could help to increase patients’ self-efficacy for better self-management. Keywords Patient self-management . Breast cancer survivors . Quality of life . Participation . Distress Background Worldwide, the steep rise in chronic illnesses constitutes a public health challenge for health service and policy makers [1–5]. The need to improve service delivery for the increas- ing number of people living with chronic diseases demands critical attention [6], and services for people with cancer diagnosis are no exception. With many known persistent medical and non-medical problems [7], breast cancer is now recognised as a form of chronic condition, with many unknown after-effects from treatment. A vast array of inter- national research indicates the extreme impact that cancer can have on quality of life (QOL), self-esteem, family roles, and everyday functioning [8, 9]. This suggests the need for an effective model of care to address the long-term S. Y. Loh(*) Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, 50630, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia e-mail: syloh@ummc.edu.my T. Packer Centre for Research into Disability and Society, within the Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia K. Chinna Department of Social Preventive Medicine, University of Malaya, 50630, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia e-mail: karuthan@gmail.com K. F. Quek School of Health and Medicine and Health Sciences, Monash University, Sunway Campus, Bandar Sunway, Malaysia e-mail: kfquek@gmail.com J Cancer Surviv DOI 10.1007/s11764-013-0274-x