scholarly journals Health Literacy among Swedish Patients in Opioid Substitution Treatment: A Mixed-Methods Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 214 ◽  
pp. 108186
Author(s):  
Disa Dahlman ◽  
Malin Ekefäll ◽  
Lars Garpenhag
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Health Literacy ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Substitution Treatment ◽  
Opioid Substitution Treatment ◽  
Opioid Substitution

Healthcare Seeking Among Swedish Patients in Opioid Substitution Treatment – a Mixed Methods Study on Barriers and Facilitators

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katja Troberg ◽  
Karin Lundqvist ◽  
Helena Hansson ◽  
Anders Håkansson ◽  
Disa Dahlman
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Healthcare System ◽  
Primary Healthcare ◽  
Ageing Population ◽  
Substitution Treatment ◽  
Opioid Substitution Treatment ◽  
Healthcare Seeking ◽  
Healthcare Needs ◽  
Unmet Healthcare Needs ◽  
Opioid Substitution

Abstract Background: Patients in opioid substitution treatment (OST) have poorer health than the general population. Thus, they do not seek somatic health care to the extent that is medically motivated. Barriers hindering patients from seeking medical help through the conventional healthcare system result in a high degree of unmet healthcare needs. Barriers to and facilitators of OST patients’ healthcare seeking have been sparsely examined.Methods: Mixed methods were employed. The quantitative part consisted of a cross-sectional questionnaire covering questions on physical health, healthcare seeking, and barriers thereof, which was collected from 209 patients in OST. A sub-sample of eleven OST patients participated in semi-structured interviews, for the qualitative part of the study, covering experience of healthcare, lifestyle and self-images, expectations and ideals of Swedish healthcare. Results: Confirmed by qualitative data, quantitative data revealed deprioritization, fear of stigma and of being treated badly, and problems in navigation throughout the healthcare system, leading to unsuccessful establishment of contact, being most common reasons for not seeking somatic healthcare. Thus, interviewees provided a deeper knowledge of the barriers stigma, lack of means to prioritize health and difficulties navigating throughout the healthcare system, leading to resignation and deprioritization. On-site primary healthcare seemed to contribute to increased access and utilization of healthcare.Conclusion: Individual and structural barriers decreasing access to healthcare lead to increased inequalities in healthcare utilization, adding to an already deteriorating health of this ageing population. Integration of on-site primary healthcare and OST could provide acceptable and accessible healthcare. Further investigations into this subject need to be conducted.

scholarly journals Development and validity testing of the Adolescent Health Literacy Questionnaire (AHLQ): Protocol for a mixed methods study within the Irish school setting

BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. e039920
Author(s):  
Ailbhe Spillane ◽  
Sarahjane Belton ◽  
Clare McDermott ◽  
Johann Issartel ◽  
Richard H Osborne ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Health Literacy ◽  
Young People ◽  
Adolescent Health ◽  
Pearson Correlation ◽  
Adult Population ◽  
School Setting ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Advisory Panel ◽  
Validity Testing

IntroductionHealth literacy research has focused predominantly on the adult population, and much less is understood about this concept from an adolescent perspective. The tools currently available to measure adolescent health literacy have been adapted from adult versions. This limits their applicability to young people because of the developmental characteristics that impact on adolescents’ behaviour, including impulse control and judgement skills. This protocol describes the intended development and validity testing of a questionnaire to measure health literacy in adolescents.Methods and analysisThis protocol describes this mixed methods study that has three phases: the first phase will involve grounded research with adolescents using qualitative group interviews, co-design and concept mapping workshops to understand what health and healthy behaviours mean to adolescents and to explore their health literacy needs and the potential domains for the questionnaire. The draft health literacy domains identified will be presented to the youth advisory panel, and the questionnaire will be altered based on their feedback. Cognitive pretesting of the questionnaire items will also be conducted. Phase 2 will involve piloting the questionnaire to a two-stage random sample of young people in five urban and rural schools in Ireland. Test–retest reliability will be conducted using Pearson correlation coefficient. Confirmatory factor analysis will also be conducted to analyse the psychometric properties of the questionnaire. Phase 3 will involve the questionnaire being rolled out to a nationally representative sample of adolescents (n=6052) in Ireland to assess their levels of health literacy.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval to conduct this study has been granted from the University College Dublin Human Research Ethics Committee – Sciences (LS-20–08). Informed assent from adolescents and informed consent from parents/guardians will be sought. The findings of this research will be disseminated at national and international conferences, as well as through publication in peer-reviewed journals.

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