Health Literacy of Oncologic Patients and Their Informal Caregivers

The haemato-oncological patient requires care due to the impact of the disease itself as well as the hard treatment. Health professionals and informal caregivers also play a central role in this multipart and demanding process of caring and management of the disease. Communication and health literacy to the patients and respective caregivers are crucial in promoting safe care. The development of quality improvement projects by health organizations has contributed to increase health literacy among its participants. Its implementation contributes to a closer relationship between health professionals, patients, and informal caregivers with a consequent improvement in the response to their needs.

Download Full-text

Nutrition and Schools Knowledge Summary

McGill Journal of Education ◽

10.7202/039036ar ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 44 (2) ◽

pp. 261-285 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Daniel A. Laitsch

Keyword(s):

Health Literacy ◽

Effective Treatment ◽

Health Professionals ◽

School Health ◽

Policy Framework ◽

Research Articles ◽

Research Findings ◽

Barriers To Implementation ◽

The Impact ◽

And Training

Abstract This review examined 117 research articles using a policy framework generated in previous research. Findings include: students are experiencing both food insecurity and an “epidemic of obesity”; policymakers remain focused on achievement; provinces address nutrition in isolation; poverty is a significant contributor; restriction of food is not an effective treatment; nurses and training may strengthen health literacy; costs offer barriers to implementation and sustainability; teacher training, funding, nutritious foods, and health professionals are important; the impact of “one-off” programs is small; and there is limited implementation and evaluation of comprehensive approaches to school health.

Download Full-text

Evaluation of Health Literacy Levels in Adults: The Case of Ankara Province

Journal of Pharmaceutical Research International ◽

10.9734/jpri/2021/v33i56a33899 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 165-173

Author(s):

Abdullah Alper Ertem ◽

Alper Güzel ◽

Aysu Zekioğlu

Keyword(s):

Health Literacy ◽

Health Professionals ◽

Health Care Services ◽

Target Population ◽

Adult Health ◽

Care Services ◽

Primary Health Care Services ◽

Literacy Process ◽

Health Related ◽

The Impact

The concept of health literacy, which is related to issues such as health behaviors, use of health services, satisfaction, has increased in national and international level in recent years. This concept refers to the individual's cognitive and social skills in health-related issues. The aim of this study is to determine the health literacy levels of individuals living in Ankara. The study was carried out with 387 volunteers. In the study, Adult Health Literacy Scale (AHLS), which consists of 23 questions developed by Sezer, was used. Mann Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis test were used to analyze the data. The average level of health literacy obtained in the study was formulated in accordance with the European Health Literacy Study and the level of international competence was determined. Accordingly, 50.1% (194) of the participants in the study were found to be inadequate, 42.1% (163) limited and 7.8% (30) sufficient health literacy. The level of perfect health literacy has not been found. In order to increase the level of health literacy, roadmaps developed jointly by policy makers and health professionals are needed. As the impact of culture on health literacy is known, developing local strategies is thought to be an effective way to increase the level of health literacy. It is important for healthcare professionals, public health professionals and health educators working in primary health care services to take roles in targeting the target population, developing strategy and communicating in the health literacy process.

Download Full-text

Caring for Patients with Psychosis: Mental Health Professionals’ Views on Informal Caregivers’ Needs

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18062964 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (6) ◽

pp. 2964

Author(s):

Maria Moudatsou ◽

Sofia Koukouli ◽

Eleutheria Palioka ◽

Garyfalia Pattakou ◽

Panagiota Teleme ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Professionals ◽

Health Professionals ◽

Informal Caregivers ◽

Sampling Strategy ◽

Framework Analysis ◽

Face To Face ◽

Qualitative Research Design ◽

Improving Patient Care ◽

The Impact

The aim of this study was to explore the views of mental health professionals regarding the needs of the informal caregivers of patients with chronic psychotic syndrome. A qualitative research design was used. The sample consisted of 12 mental health professionals selected by a purposive sampling strategy. Data were collected through semistructured, face to face interviews. Framework analysis was used to analyze qualitative data and establish main themes and subthemes. Three main themes emerged namely, (i) impact of caring on caregivers’ lives, (ii) caregivers’ needs, and (iii) recommendations for better care. Informal caregivers’ needs were conceptualized into subthemes within the main themes. Caregivers’ increased responsibilities of caring for their relatives, the impact on their mental and physical health status and the restrictions in their social and professional life were revealed. Targeted health interventions and social policy planning are recommended for supporting informal caregivers and improving patient care.

Download Full-text

Measuring the Impact of Patient Engagement From the Perspective of Health Professionals Leading Quality Improvement Projects

Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions ◽

10.1097/ceh.0000000000000405 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 41 (4) ◽

pp. 247-252

Author(s):

Sara Morassaei ◽

Mikki Campbell ◽

Lisa Di Prospero

Keyword(s):

Quality Improvement ◽

Patient Engagement ◽

Health Professionals ◽

The Impact

Download Full-text

Māori Research(er) in Three Poems

The Ethnographic Edge ◽

10.15663/tee.v2i1.35 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 35

Author(s):

Jacquie Kidd

Keyword(s):

Palliative Care ◽

Health Literacy ◽

Cultural Identity ◽

Focus Groups ◽

Health Professionals ◽

Bell Hooks ◽

Face To Face ◽

The Third ◽

Ruth Behar ◽

Seeking Help

These three poems re-present the findings from a research project that took place in 2013 (Kidd et al. 2018, Kidd et al. 2014). The research explored what health literacy meant for Māori patients and whānau when they accessed palliative care. Through face-to-face interviews and focus groups we engaged with 81 people including patients, whānau, bereaved loved ones, support workers and health professionals. The poems are composite, written to bring some of our themes to life. The first poem is titled Aue. This is a Māori lament that aligns to English words such as ‘oh no’, or ‘arrgh’, or ‘awww’. Each stanza of the poem re-presents some of the stories we heard throughout the research. The second poem is called Tikanga. This is a Māori concept that encompasses customs, traditions and protocols. There are tikanga rituals and processes that guide all aspects of life, death, and relationships. This poem was inspired by an elderly man who explained that he would avoid seeking help from a hospice because ‘they leave tikanga at the door at those places’. His choice was to bear his pain bravely, with pride, within his cultural identity. The third poem is called ‘People Like Me’. This is an autoethnographical reflection of what I experienced as a researcher which draws on the work of scholars such as bell hooks (1984), Laurel Richardson (1997) and Ruth Behar (1996). These and many other authors encourage researchers to use frustration and anger to inform our writing; to use our tears to fuel our need to publish our research.

Download Full-text

What Gives a Diagnostic Label Value? Common Use Over Informativeness

10.31234/osf.io/er6ku ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Babak Hemmatian ◽

Sze Yu Yu Chan ◽

Steven A. Sloman

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Professionals ◽

Health Professionals ◽

Causal Relation ◽

Causal Beliefs ◽

Diagnostic Categories ◽

Diagnostic Labels ◽

Diagnostic Label ◽

The Impact ◽

Practical Implications

A label’s entrenchment, its degree of use by members of a community, affects its perceived explanatory value even if the label provides no substantive information (Hemmatian & Sloman, 2018). In three experiments, we show that laypersons and mental health professionals see entrenched psychiatric and non-psychiatric diagnostic labels as better explanations than non-entrenched labels even if they are circular. Using scenarios involving experts who discuss unfamiliar diagnostic categories, we show that this preference is not due to violations of conversational norms, lack of reflectiveness or attentiveness, and the characters’ familiarity or unfamiliarity with the label. In Experiment 1, whether a label provided novel symptom information or not had no impact on lay responses, while its entrenchment enhanced ratings of explanation quality. The effect persisted in Experiment 2 for causally incoherent categories and regardless of direct provision of mechanistic information. The effect of entrenchment was partly related to induced causal beliefs about the category, even when participants were informed there is no causal relation. Most participants in both experiments did not report any effect of entrenchment and the effect was present for those who did not. In Experiment 3, mental health professionals showed the effect using diagnoses that were mere shorthands for symptoms, despite a tendency to rate all explanations as unsatisfactory. The data suggest that bringing experts’ attention to the manipulation eliminates the effect. We discuss practical implications for mental health disciplines and potential ways to mitigate the impact of entrenchment.

Download Full-text

Patient-Centered, Integrated Health Care Quality Measures Could Improve Health Literacy, Language Access, and Cultural Competence

NAM Perspectives ◽

10.31478/201902a ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Ignatius Bau ◽

Robert A. Logan ◽

Christopher Dezii ◽

Bernard Rosof ◽

Alicia Fernandez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Quality Improvement ◽

Health Literacy ◽

Cultural Competence ◽

Health Care Quality ◽

Care Quality ◽

National Committee ◽

Patient Centered ◽

Organizational System ◽

Language Access

The authors of this paper recommend the integration of health care quality improvement measures for health literacy, language access, and cultural competence. The paper also notes the importance of patient-centered and equity-based institutional performance assessments or monitoring systems. The authors support the continued use of specific measures such as assessing organizational system responses to health literacy or the actual availability of needed language access services such as qualified interpreters as part of overall efforts to maintain quality and accountability. Moreover, this paper is informed by previous recommendations from a commissioned paper provided by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) to the Roundtable on Health Literacy of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. In the commissioned paper, NCQA explained that health literacy, language access, and cultural competence measures are siloed and need to generate results that enhance patient care improvements. The authors suggest that the integration of health literacy, language access, and cultural competence measures will provide for institutional assessment across multiple dimensions of patient vulnerabilities. With such integration, health care organizations and providers will be able to cultivate the tools needed to identify opportunities for quality improvement as well as adapt care to meet diverse patients’ complex needs. Similarly, this paper reinforces the importance of providing more “measures that matter” within clinical settings.

Download Full-text

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement–NeuroPoint Alliance collaboration to decrease length of stay and readmission after lumbar spine fusion: using national registries to design quality improvement protocols

Journal of Neurosurgery Spine ◽

10.3171/2020.5.spine20457 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 33 (6) ◽

pp. 812-821

Author(s):

Scott L. Zuckerman ◽

Clinton J. Devin ◽

Vincent Rossi ◽

Silky Chotai ◽

E. Hunter Dyer ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quality Improvement ◽

Length Of Stay ◽

Discharge Planning ◽

Lumbar Fusion ◽

Nonparametric Tests ◽

Learning System ◽

Design Quality ◽

Implementation Phase ◽

Healthcare Improvement ◽

The Impact

OBJECTIVENational databases collect large amounts of clinical information, yet application of these data can be challenging. The authors present the NeuroPoint Alliance and Institute for Healthcare Improvement (NPA-IHI) program as a novel attempt to create a quality improvement (QI) tool informed through registry data to improve the quality of care delivered. Reducing the length of stay (LOS) and readmission after elective lumbar fusion was chosen as the pilot module.METHODSThe NPA-IHI program prospectively enrolled patients undergoing elective 1- to 3-level lumbar fusions across 8 institutions. A three-pronged approach was taken that included the following phases: 1) Research Phase, 2) Development Phase, and 3) Implementation Phase. Primary outcomes were LOS and readmission. From January to June 2017, a learning system was created utilizing monthly conference calls, weekly data submission, and continuous refinement of the proposed QI tool. Nonparametric tests were used to assess the impact of the QI intervention.RESULTSThe novel QI tool included the following three areas of intervention: 1) preoperative discharge assessment (location, date, and instructions), 2) inpatient changes (LOS rounding checklist, daily huddle, and pain assessments), and 3) postdischarge calls (pain, primary care follow-up, and satisfaction). A total of 209 patients were enrolled, and the most common procedure was a posterior laminectomy/fusion (60.2%). Seven patients (3.3%) were readmitted during the study period. Preoperative discharge planning was completed for 129 patients (61.7%). A shorter median LOS was seen in those with a known preoperative discharge date (67 vs 80 hours, p = 0.018) and clear discharge instructions (71 vs 81 hours, p = 0.030). Patients with a known preoperative discharge plan also reported significantly increased satisfaction (8.0 vs 7.0, p = 0.028), and patients with increased discharge readiness (scale 0–10) also reported higher satisfaction (r = 0.474, p < 0.001). Those receiving postdischarge calls (76%) had a significantly shorter LOS than those without postdischarge calls (75 vs 99 hours, p = 0.020), although no significant relationship was seen between postdischarge calls and readmission (p = 0.342).CONCLUSIONSThe NPA-IHI program showed that preoperative discharge planning and postdischarge calls have the potential to reduce LOS and improve satisfaction after elective lumbar fusion. It is our hope that neurosurgical providers can recognize how registries can be used to both develop and implement a QI tool and appreciate the importance of QI implementation as a separate process from data collection/analysis.

Download Full-text

Mental health professional perspectives on health data sharing: Mixed methods study

Health Informatics Journal ◽

10.1177/1460458219893848 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 26 (3) ◽

pp. 2067-2082 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Adela Grando ◽

Julia Ivanova ◽

Megan Hiestand ◽

Hiral Soni ◽

Anita Murcko ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Information ◽

Data Sharing ◽

Health Professionals ◽

Mixed Methods Study ◽

Qualitative And Quantitative Analysis ◽

Qualitative And Quantitative ◽

Patient Comprehension ◽

Professional Perspectives ◽

The Impact ◽

Perceived Reasons

This study explores behavioral health professionals’ perceptions of granular data. Semi-structured in-person interviews of 20 health professionals were conducted at two different sites. Qualitative and quantitative analysis was performed. While most health professionals agreed that patients should control who accesses their personal medical record (70%), there are certain types of health information that should never be restricted (65%). Emergent themes, including perceived reasons that patients might share or withhold certain types of health information (65%), care coordination (12%), patient comprehension (11%), stigma (5%), trust (3%), sociocultural understanding (3%), and dissatisfaction with consent processes (1%), are explored. The impact of care role (prescriber or non-prescriber) on data-sharing perception is explored as well. This study informs the discussion on developing technology that helps balance provider and patient data-sharing and access needs.

Download Full-text