SELF: Strategies to Embrace Living with Lupus Fearlessly
No matter how long you’ve been living with lupus, SELF has the tips and tools to help you better manage your disease.
Download the SELF App
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What is SELF?
The SELF app (Strategies to Embrace Living with Lupus Fearlessly) is our free self-care program for people with lupus. SELF was designed to help people with lupus live their best lives.
SELF can be your virtual coach to help you:
- manage lupus symptoms
- manage stress
- manage medications
- work with your health care team.
SELF is unique.
It’s convenient and customized to your needs--offering easy-to-use tools, trackers, skill-building activities, support, and reminders.
Who is SELF for?
SELF is for:
- People with lupus newly diagnosed who need help getting started managing this complex disease
- People with lupus who want to feel more in control of their disease
- People with lupus who feel they manage their disease well but perhaps want a little help dealing with some of the ups and downs of lupus.
SELF is available for people who are 18 years and older residing in the United States.
How does SELF work?
People with lupus, rheumatologists, and other experts worked hand-in-hand with the Lupus Foundation of America to create SELF to help people with lupus live a better life.
Take control of your lupus self-management with daily activities customized to your needs and interest.
When you start SELF, you select an area of focus from four key lupus self-management behaviors:
- managing symptoms,
- managing stress,
- managing medication and
- working with your healthcare team.
SELF asks a few questions about your experiences with lupus and your readiness to learn new skills. Based on your answers, SELF creates a customized plan of skill-building activities for your area of focus.
People with lupus are busy and have different needs. You are in the driver’s seat.
You can choose from a variety of ways to use the app:
- Use SELF’s symptom tracker, medication tracker or journal
- Sign-up for tips and encouragement- delivered by text or email
- Focus in on one of SELFs key self-management behaviors (managing symptoms, managing stress, managing medications or working with your healthcare team) and the app delivers an activity of the day for building skills in that area
- Dive deeper into your focus area by completing multiple skill-building activities and exploring our library of educational materials
- Reach out for support by joining a support group or contacting an LFA health education specialist
SELF is free to everyone. The Lupus Foundation of America developed SELF with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Additional features and upgrades for SELF were supported by AstraZeneca.
How do I get started with SELF?
Getting started is simple: Download the app from the Apple store or Google Play and register.
If you don’t want to use the app, you can use SELF online.
What happens in SELF?
You can view a intro video about the SELF app to learn more.
To tailor the program to meet your needs, SELF will ask you a few quick questions about the lupus self-management skills where you want to focus your learning.
You can pick from one of four key lupus self-management skills:
- managing stress
- managing symptoms
- managing medications
- working with your healthcare team
Based on your answers, you’ll receive a customized activity each day to build the skills in your area of focus. You can also use the symptom tracker, medication tracker and journal to track your progress. You can also choose to get personalized text messages—at a time that’s convenient for you. Through the program you can connect with your peers in the lupus community, use the Lupus Foundation of America’s National Resource Center on Lupus, and get your questions answered by the Lupus Foundation of America’s health education specialists.
Every two weeks, you can choose a new area of focus or stick wit the same one. SELF will invite you to answer a few questions so it can update your activity feed.
SELF used to be a website. What changed?
SELF users have been asking for a mobile app, and we listened! We’ve created the SELF app to give SELF users more choices.
The SELF app and the SELF website version offer all the same activities and features.
Whether you are already a SELF user or are brand new to SELF, you can use both the app and the website at any time. Your customized education and trackers will be the same for both app and website.
Just like the SELF online program, the SELF app is :
- free to download and use
- tailored to your needs and interests
- designed with input from PWL and rheumatologists
- designed to help PWL live their best life
In the app, users will have access to some of the most popular features of the more comprehensive SELF online program:
- tailored self-management activities
- symptom tracker
- medication tracker
- journal
Do I have to use the SELF app?
You do not have to use the app. You can use SELF online at self.lupus.org
Whether you are already a SELF user or you are brand new to SELF, you can choose to use SELF in whatever way works best for you. Your customized education and trackers will be the same for both.
How do you protect my privacy in SELF?
We take your privacy very seriously and are using all precautions to protect it.
All your information will be private and protected. For more information regarding the Lupus Foundation of America’s policy, as well as privacy information related to SELF, visit lupus.org/privacy-policy.
Who should I contact if I have questions or problems with SELF?
Please feel free to email us with any questions or problems at SELF@lupus.org.
Download the SELF App
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