• Mpho Chipu and Charlene Downing.
• Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Johannesburg, Doornfontein Campus, Johannesburg, South Africa.
• Int J Nurs Sci. 2020 Oct 10; 7 (4): 446-452.

ObjectiveThis article aims to provide an in-depth analysis of the concept of self-care in the intensive care unit and outline its defining attributes, antecedents, consequences and empirical referents.MethodsThe literature was searched electronically using databases such as CINAHL, Medline, Psych INFO, ERIC, ScienceDirect, Amed, EBSCO (Health Source: Nursing and Academic Edition), Sage, Ujoogle and Google Scholar. Articles from 2013 to 2020 were searched to target recent and up-to-date information about the definitions, attributes, antecedents and consequences of the concept of self-care. Walker and Avant's framework was utilised to analyse the concept of self-care.ResultsThe results of the concept analysis identified seven attributes, namely process, activity, capability, autonomous choice, education, self-control and interaction. The seven identified antecedents are self-motivation, participation, commitment, resources, religious and cultural beliefs, social, spiritual and professional support, and the availability of time. The consequences are the maintenance of health and wellbeing, autonomy, increased self-esteem, disease prevention, empowerment, increased social support and the ability to cope with stress.ConclusionsThe result of the concept analysis was used to describe a model to facilitate professional nurses' self-care in the intensive care unit.© 2020 The authors.

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