Strategies to support self-management in osteoarthritis.

This overview of successful strategies for supporting self-management in patients with osteoarthritis (OA) defines the concepts of self-management, self-management support (SMS), and self-management education (SME); describes five categories of SMS interventions; identifies common elements across SMS categories; and provides evidence for and examples of self-management tools that are useful in OA. SMS categories include SME, other skill-building and behavior-change interventions, supportive provider interactions, ongoing supportive follow-up, and environmental changes. Where available, relevant OA-specific SMS strategies are used to illustrate these categories.