Table.

Definitions of Major Concepts in the Theory of Symptom Self-Management (TSSM)

Major Concepts	Definition
Patient Characteristics	Physiological, psychological, and contextual influencing factors. Examples of patient characteristics may include but are not limited to: Physiological: Severity of illness; presence of co-morbid conditions; abnormal lab tests, and age. Psychological: Mental state or mood; personal beliefs and value systems; affective reaction to illness; and degree of uncertainty. Contextual: Social and physical environment; culture; developmental stage; family and social relationships; employment status; available resources; and lifestyle behaviors such as diet and exercise.
Symptoms	Symptoms are the perceived warnings of threats to health and the subjective experience of the person.
Perceived Self-Efficacy for Symptom Self-Management	A person’s ability to implement situation specific behaviors in order to attain established goals, expectations, or designated types of outcomes.
Symptom Self-Management	A dynamic, self-directed process of implementing behaviors that recognize, prevent, relieve or decrease the timing (frequency, duration, occurrence), intensity, distress, concurrence, and unpleasant quality from symptoms to achieve optimal performance outcomes.
Performance Outcomes	The outcome or the effect of a person’s symptom self- management experience.