The Self-Care Academic Research Unit (SCARU) is the first university academic unit dedicated specifically to the study of self-care. Imperial SCARU was formally launched at the 19th Annual Self-Care Conference in London in 2017.
SCARU’s vision is to be the leading academic base for self-care, focused on the contributions that individuals, healthcare professionals and other stakeholders can make to improve wellbeing, prevent disease, and self-manage existing conditions and so-called ‘diseases of the lifestyle’ including obesity and type 2 diabetes.
SCARU’s mission is to make the absolute case for self-care. The Unit will achieve this by identifying and studying the ways in which individuals, communities and existing health and social care infrastructure and assets can improve people’s self-care behaviours and overall sense of mental and physical health wellbeing, addressing opportunities and barriers to self-care in the contemporary setting.
SCARU will consider how self-care can be embedded as a cross-cutting theme to inform health systems development and evidence-based policy prescriptions to support the routine adoption of health-seeking behaviours for the benefit of individuals and society throughout the life-course and in different settings.
Who we are
SCARU is a three-way collaboration between Imperial College London School of Public Health, the UK Self-Care Forum (SCF), and the International Self-Care Foundation (ISF). The School of Public Health aims to achieve better health in the population by strengthening the public health science base, training the next generation of public health leaders and influencing health policies and programmes worldwide. The Self-Care Forum is a charity with a focus in the UK and aims to raise awareness of the importance of self-care as well as provide information and guides to implement self-care into everyday life. SCF organises National Self-Care Week and developed the Self-Care Continuum. The International Self-Care Foundation is a charity with an international focus, dedicated to advancing policy prescriptions for self-care, and is the originator of International Self Care Day (24/7) and the Seven Pillars of Self-Care framework.
SCARU team
- Dr Austen El-Osta (SCARU Director)
- Professor Azeem Majeed (Head of Department)
- Mr Aos Alaa (Research Associate)
- Dr Benedict Hayhoe (GP & Clinical Lecturer in Primary Care)
- Dr David Mummery (GP & RCGP Clinical Adviser)
- Dr David Skinner (President, International Self-Care Foundation)
- Eva Riboli-Sasco (Research Associate)
- Ms Iman Webber (Research Associate)
- Ms Manisha Karki (Research Associate)
- Dr Marie Line El Asmar (Research Associate)
- Dr Kaveh Asanati (Hon. Senior Clinical Lecturer, NHLI)
- Dr Pete Smith (President, The Self Care Forum UK)
- Dr Ricky Banarsee (R&D Director)
SCARU works in collaboration with
- Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
- The Self-Care Forum
- International Self-Care Foundation
- NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Northwest London
- NIHR London In-Vitro Diagnostics Co-operative
- Self-Care Trailblazer Group
- Australian Self-Care Alliance
- Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
- UKRI Self-Driven Healthcare Forum
- The Self-Care Journal
- Lifestyle Medicine Journal
- The International College of Person-Centred Medicine
- WHO Collaborating Centre for Public Health Education and Training
- Global Action on Men's Health
- West London Research Network (WeLReN)
- Brackenbury Primary School
- Digital Health London
- Bia Care
- Health Place
- Healthily
- London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham
- Regimen
What we do
SCARU focuses primarily on developing thought leadership & evidence generation to advance our understanding of self-care in the context of 21st century living by coordinating a wide programme of activities, including:
- Evidence synthesis in relation to various aspects of self-care
- Evaluation of self-care initiatives and public health programmes
- Collaboration with industry partners and device manufacturers to support technology enabled self-care approaches and intelligent use of data and healthcare resources
- Explore how self-care can benefit the wider health economy from the perspective of funding of outcomes as opposed to activities
- Consider the psychosocial aspects of self-care (personal barriers & drivers)
- nfluence inter/national policy on self-care
- Advance policy prescriptions to ‘democratise’ self-care & support a ‘self-care in all health policy’ approach
- Tool development for measuring individual self-care capabilities
Links
- The Self-Care Matrix: A unifying framework for self-care
- Submission to the Select Committee on Science &Technology, Ageing: Science, Technology & Healthy Living
- Self-Care R&D Priorities
- Use of microlearning to promote a 'lifestyle over drugs' approach & vitality in ageing
- SCARU delegation visit to Malaysia
- @ImperialSCARU
Upcoming events
More information
Contact us
Imperial College London Self-Care Academic Research Unit (SCARU)
Department of Primary Care & Public Heath
Reynolds Building, Charing Cross Hospital
St. Dunstan’s Road, London W6 8RF
Tel. 0207 594 7604
Email: a.el-osta@imperial.ac.uk