Patient Navigation&mdash;Who Needs What? Awareness of Patient Navigators and Ranking of Their Tasks in the General Population in Germany

Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Institute of Medical Sociology and Rehabilitation Science, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany

Brandenburg Medical School Theodor Fontane, Institute of Social Medicine and Epidemiology, 14770 Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany

Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Institute of Public Health, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany

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Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Institute of General Practice and Family Medicine, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany

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Kassenärztliche Bundesvereinigung (KBV), Geschäftsbereich Sicherstellung und Versorgungsstruktur, Abteilung Versorgungsstruktur, 10592 Berlin, Germany

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Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Institute for Biometry and Clinical Epidemiology, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany

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Berlin Institute of Health at Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Academic Editors: Andrea Glässel and Christine Holmberg

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(5), 2846; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19052846

Received: 21 December 2021 / Revised: 22 February 2022 / Accepted: 25 February 2022 / Published: 1 March 2022

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Care from Patients' Perspective)

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Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the awareness of patient navigation (PN) in the general population in Germany and to assess which navigator tasks are considered most important. The analysis drew on a 2019 nationwide telephone survey of 6110 adults. We compared rankings of emotional support, administrative support and information among respondents with and without experience of patient navigation. One-fifth of the sample reported having heard of PNs; 13% of this group already had experience with PN. In both groups, the majority (>47%) considered assistance with applications to be most important. This was particularly the case among younger adults and those with a chronic disease. Within the inexperienced group, higher educated people had higher odds of ranking provision of information as most important for them, whereas women and those without a partner had higher odds of ranking emotional support as the most important task. This study shows that the majority of people predominantly expect PN services to offer administrative support, irrespective of their socioeconomic and health status. Whether these expectations are met by the diverse existing PN programs, which often have a strong focus on other tasks (e.g., increasing health literacy), has yet to be evaluated. View Full-Text

Keywords: patient navigation; health information; emotional support; social support; population survey; sociodemographic characteristics; chronic disease; subjective health

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MDPI and ACS Style

Schnitzer, S.; Kohl, R.; Fügemann, H.; Gödde, K.; Stumm, J.; Engelmann, F.; Grittner, U.; Rieckmann, N. Patient Navigation—Who Needs What? Awareness of Patient Navigators and Ranking of Their Tasks in the General Population in Germany. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 2846. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19052846

AMA Style

Schnitzer S, Kohl R, Fügemann H, Gödde K, Stumm J, Engelmann F, Grittner U, Rieckmann N. Patient Navigation—Who Needs What? Awareness of Patient Navigators and Ranking of Their Tasks in the General Population in Germany. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(5):2846. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19052846

Chicago/Turabian Style

Schnitzer, Susanne, Raphael Kohl, Hella Fügemann, Kathrin Gödde, Judith Stumm, Fabian Engelmann, Ulrike Grittner, and Nina Rieckmann. 2022. "Patient Navigation—Who Needs What? Awareness of Patient Navigators and Ranking of Their Tasks in the General Population in Germany" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 5: 2846. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19052846

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Patient Navigation—Who Needs What? Awareness of Patient Navigators and Ranking of Their Tasks in the General Population in Germany

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