European Forum for Primary Care 2017 Conference: The Citizen Voice in Primary Care

The main themes of this conference are,

1 - Promoting participative citizenship in healthcare 

Sub-themes:

Citizen oriented healthcare

Health literacy

Citizen participation in health research

Procedures to listen to the public voice

IT to citizen participation in health

Patients and communities’ leagues and commissions and their relevance for health organizations.

Parallel themes

2 - Informal Care

3 - Mediterranean Health

Making it Easier: A Health Literacy Action Plan for Scotland

Making it Easier- a health literacy plan for Scotland 2017-25, builds on the current learning about health literacy and aims to remove and prevent barriers. Health literacy is the degree to ehich individuals have the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropiate health decisions

The new guidance aims to improve design and delivery of services founded on the following themes: 

- equal access

- shared decision-making

- people supported to live and die well on their own terms with the health conditions they have

Health literacy, the role of beliefs and barriers in Afghanistan. A quantitative study

The concept of health literacy (HL) is of growing interest worldwide but little is known about the status of HL in crisis-affected countries such as Afghanistan. Afghan health professionals report that HL and the health status are very poor and  cultural and religious belief and various barriers influence the health-related behavior. Following the assumption that improving HL may increase adequate health behavior, to measure HL and perception is of political , scientific and practical relevance. 

The determinants of access to information on the Internet and knowledge of health related topics in European countries

The aim of this study is to analyze the determinants of access to health-related information on the Internet and their influence on perceived knowledge of health-related topics in European countries. Referring to the European citizens’ digital health literacy survey and applying structural equation modelling hypotheses, the obtained results showed that assumption of acceptance of information and capacity level are the main determinants which have the biggest influence on the perception of access to health-related information on the Internet. The access to health-related information negatively determined the perceived level of knowledge about health-related topics, which reveals that people making more use of the information are more critical in assessing the level of their knowledge. People who evaluated their health status as poor stated that they knew about health-related topics less. Therefore, the high level of access to health-related information does not mean that people would assume having more knowledge about health-related ...

Health literacy as a social practice: Social and empirical dimensions of knowledge on health and healthcare

Health literacy has become a hot topic in health research and public health promotion. Most definitions specify health literacy as an individual cognitive skill, and surveys such as the EU-HLS which ask people to self-rate their decision-making capacity in the health system, grade a majority of the population as having an inadequate health literacy. Inspired by a praxeological understanding of knowledge and based on an empirical study on welfare bricolage in superdiverse urban neighborhoods, this paper explores health literacy ethnographically and highlights people's knowledge, creative practices and experiences concerning health and healthcare.

'They are inconveniencing us' - exploring how gaps in patient education and patient centred approaches interfere with TB treatment adherence: perspectives from patients and clinicians in the Free State Province, South Africa.

Tuberculosis (TB) treatment loss to follow up (LTFU) plays an important contributory role to the staggering TB epidemic in South Africa. Reasons for treatment interruption are poorly understood.Treatment interruption appears to be the culmination of poor health literacy of patients and inadequate health education provided by clinicians. Limited occupational opportunities, fear of disclosure and stigmatization all contributed to treatment LTFU. Clinicians concurred that poor patient understanding of TB and that biomedical management lacking a psycho-social dimension further exacerbated the poor treatment outcome. TB remains a social disease, the successful management of which hinges on patient-centred care.

Telemonitoring and continuity of care for older subjects: comparing experience an identifying common solutions

The COVID19 pandemic highlighted some structural – organizational and cultural – limitations of our dominant model of (health)care. One of these is the need to identify and adopt newer instruments for the continuity of care for the large number of patients with chronic disease who live in low-density population areas  (200 million or 27% of EU population) and experience inequality to access (health)care because of the distance between community and healthcare structures. Notably, the onset of multimorbidity occurs 10–15 years earlier in people living in the most deprived areas compared with the most a?uent.

The Workshop aims at facilitating knowledge acquisition (including existing Projects and adopted solutions) and at fostering collaboration and standardization of best practice, including health literacy and patients and caregivers empowerment, in order to impact on the adoption of innovative digital solutions able to boost people's health and quality of life and enable more ...

IFIC Scotland Integrated Care Matters: Build Back Better Webinar Series

The new report from the International Foundation for Integrated Care (IFIC), Realising the true value of integrated care describes the steps we must take to create a radically different future beyond Covid-19. The report is a powerful call to reset our compass to a new reality based on solidarity and collaboration for population health. IFIC Scotland and partners will explore this new future in series 5 of their Integrated Care Matters webinars.

Guest panelists, members of IFICs international Special Interest Groups, will share their experiences and insights and challenge us to design a better future that improves lives and opportunities for all. Each webinar will be accompanied by a topic resource with links to further information.

All who register will receive links to the recordings and topic resources.

Needs and resources of people with type 2 diabetes in peri-urban Cochabamba, Bolivia: a people-centred perspective

The rising prevalence of type 2 diabetes results in a worldwide public healthcare crisis, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) with unprepared and overburdened health systems mainly focused on infectious diseases and maternal and child health. This study identifies mostly contextual factors like low literacy levels, linguistic problems in care, the need to articulate people’s worldview including traditional use of natural remedies with the Bolivian health system and the lack of expertise on type 2 diabetes by primary health care providers. Understanding the needs and structuring them in different areas wherein action is required serves as a foundation for the planning and evaluation of an integrated people centred care program for people with type 2 diabetes. This participative method serves as a tool to implement the often theoretical concept of integrated people centred health care in health policy and program development.

The role of primary care in informing and supporting people with limited health literacy in the Netherlands during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative interview study

During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, people have been confronted with a large amount of information about the virus and the governmental measures against its spreading. However, more than a quarter of individuals have limited health literacy (HL), meaning that they have difficulty finding, understanding, and applying health information. The purpose of this interview study was to investigate how individuals with limited HL acquire information about COVID-19 and governmental measures, what difficulties they experience in understanding and applying it, and what may be needed to overcome these difficulties. We also addressed other problems that they might face as a result of the pandemic. Using our findings, we aimed to make recommendations on the possible role of primary care in informing and supporting patients with limited HL during the pandemic.