Special Issue "Patient and Consumer Engagement in Health Care and Wellbeing: Challenges and Opportunities for a Participatory Health Approach"

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Serena Barello
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Milano, Largo Agostino Gemelli, 1, 20123 Milano MI, Italia
Interests: patient and consumer engagement in healthcare; medical education; qualitative health research; PROMs, PREMs; participatory research; patient–doctor communication; shared decision making; behavioral health; behavioral change
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Prof. Guendalina Graffigna
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, via Milano 24, 26100 Cremona, Italy
2. EngageMinds HUB—Consumer, Food & Health Engagement Research Center, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 20123 Milan, Italy
Interests: patient and consumer engagement in healthcare; behavioral health; behavioral change; consumer psychology; food habits; food literacy; social marketing

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce a Special Issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health entitled “Patient and Consumer Engagement in Healthcare and Wellbeing: Challenges and Opportunities for a Participatory Health Approach”. For detailed information on this journal, I refer you to https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph.

Over time, the care and health needs of people are changing and becoming increasingly complex, and there is work to do to ensure that services deliver high-quality and evidence-based interventions/actions that meet the health needs and expectations of patients and consumers.

Patient and consumer health engagement is a key element of effective health management and promotion, which helps to ensure that the needs of people are adequately met. Participatory approaches to health that systematically include consumers/patients and other stakeholders are broadly advocated. Patients and consumers have important knowledge and experience that may feed into health and care management programs, research, and policy, contributing to their effectiveness and equity. Equally importantly, patient and consumer engagement have the potential to enhance health literacy, healthy food choices, preventive behavior, adherence to treatment, patient and consumer safety, satisfaction with care, quality of life, and reduced healthcare costs.

Moreover, in health and care management, professionals (practitioners, managers, researchers, policymakers) often struggle to sufficiently engage consumers and patients. Insights into best practices, explaining what works, how it works, how to measure the impact, and in which context, are needed to improve patient and consumer engagement in health promotion and care management. Patient and consumer engagement can be highly valuable at numerous levels, but particular attention should be paid to the process of engaging with patients and related ethical issues. For this reason, the values underlying patient and consumer health engagement need to be explored and further explicated to avoid the risk of oversimplification.

This Special Issue on ‘Patient and Consumer Engagement in Healthcare, and Wellbeing: Challenges and Opportunities for a Participatory Health Approach’ will integrate research from multiple perspectives, disciplines, and methodologies to better understand what constitutes effective and valuable patient and consumer health processes and how best to promote them. This Special Issue will publish research and studies that describe different ways that the engagement of patients and consumers in health processes can be enhanced.

The aim is to give readers valuable insights into what works well for enhancing consumer and patient health and care engagement. The Guest Editors would like to invite original research (both quantitative and qualitative), reviews, theoretical frameworks, methodological reflections, and case studies on the following topics:

  • Methodologies and up-to-date methodological frameworks used to enhance patient and consumer health engagement;
  • Design of interventions devoted to promoting patient and consumer health engagement;
  • The impact (e.g., health literacy, healthy food choices, patient and consumer safety; quality of life; clinical outcomes; cost of care) of patient and consumer health engagement;
  • Reflections upon the role of professionals, managers, researchers, and policymakers in promoting patient and consumer health engagement;
  • Discussions of practical and ethical challenges related to patient and consumer health engagement.

The settings and situations can be diverse, for example, chronic care management, patient advocacy initiatives, drug development, mental health, welfare and public health programs, medical education, organizational interventions, patient and consumer health education, consumer food involvement; healthy food choices; digital health.

The final date for submission is 31 September 2020. However, we will review submitted manuscripts when they are received and will publish papers online when they are accepted.

Dr. Serena Barello
Prof. Guendalina Graffigna
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2300 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Patient engagement in healthcare
  • Consumer health engagement
  • Participatory health
  • Shared decision making
  • Healthcare
  • Digital health
  • Medical humanities and medical education
  • Patient advocacy
  • Food habits and healthy food choices

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

Article
Participatory Development and Preliminary Psychometric Properties of the User-Friendly Patient Information Material Checklist (UPIM-Check)
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(16), 8773; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18168773 - 19 Aug 2021
Viewed by 463
Abstract
The aims of this study were (1) to design a user-friendly instrument to assess and optimize patient information material (PIM), (2) to develop an English version, and (3) to test its psychometric properties. The instrument was needed to optimize the top-down developed PIM [...] Read more.
The aims of this study were (1) to design a user-friendly instrument to assess and optimize patient information material (PIM), (2) to develop an English version, and (3) to test its psychometric properties. The instrument was needed to optimize the top-down developed PIM of the psycho-oncological care programme isPO. First, a literature-based PIM checklist was developed by a team of patient representatives, cancer care experts and professional researchers. Next, the checklist’s reliability and validity were analysed by having cancer survivors assess the initial and optimized version of the isPO-leaflet. The User-friendly Patient Information Material Checklist (UPIM-Check), developed participatorily, was found to be effective for evaluating PIM. It uses a traffic light scale, and suggestions for improvement can be given for each criterion. Its reliability appeared to be excellent (α = 0.927). The optimized leaflet was rated significantly better than the initial one. The UPIM-Check is a reliable and valid instrument, which enables end-users (e.g., patients) to assess and optimize the quality of PIM according to scientific criteria and the needs of end-users. A bottom-up approach was essential for developing and validating the UPIM-Check. End-users constantly contributed with their specific knowledge. Thus, their position as co-researchers was significantly strengthened. Full article
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Article
Financial Literacy, Health Engagement, and Residents’ Health: Evidence from China
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(8), 4202; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18084202 - 15 Apr 2021
Viewed by 733
Abstract
This study took residents’ health level as the research object, adopted the perspective of financial literacy, and used the 2014–2018 China Family Panel Studies data to analyze the impact of financial literacy on the residents’ health. The study found that financial literacy could [...] Read more.
This study took residents’ health level as the research object, adopted the perspective of financial literacy, and used the 2014–2018 China Family Panel Studies data to analyze the impact of financial literacy on the residents’ health. The study found that financial literacy could have a significant positive impact on the residents’ health, with long-term effects. Furthermore, it promoted the residents’ health engagement and improved their health through the intermediary effects of income and health expenditure. In addition, the impact of financial literacy on the residents’ health was heterogeneous between urban and rural areas. Compared with the case for rural residents, the improvement of financial literacy significantly improved the health of the urban residents. The outcomes of this research were the exploration of means to improve residents’ health from a new economic perspective, promote residents’ health engagement, and improve residents’ health. Full article
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Article
Online Fake News about Food: Self-Evaluation, Social Influence, and the Stages of Change Moderation
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(6), 2934; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18062934 - 12 Mar 2021
Viewed by 919
Abstract
In the Italian context, the diffusion of online fake news about food is becoming increasingly fast-paced and widespread, making it more difficult for the public to recognize reliable information. Moreover, this phenomenon is deteriorating the relation with public institutions and industries. The purpose [...] Read more.
In the Italian context, the diffusion of online fake news about food is becoming increasingly fast-paced and widespread, making it more difficult for the public to recognize reliable information. Moreover, this phenomenon is deteriorating the relation with public institutions and industries. The purpose of this article is to provide a more advanced understanding of the individual psychological factors and the social influence that contributes to the belief in food-related online fake news and the aspects that can increase or mitigate this risk. Data were collected with a self-report questionnaire between February and March 2019. We obtained 1004 valid questionnaires filled out by a representative sample of Italian population, extracted by stratified sampling. We used structural equation modelling and the multi-group analyses to test our hypothesis. The results show that self-evaluation negatively affects the social-influence, which in turn positively affects the belief in online fake news. Moreover, this latter relationship is moderated by the readiness to change. Our results suggest that individual psychological characteristics and social influence are important in explaining the belief in online fake news in the food sector; however, a pivotal role is played by the motivation of lifestyle change. This should be considered to engage people in clear and effective communication. Full article
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Article
Evaluation of the Use of Shared Decision Making in Breast Cancer: International Survey
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(4), 2128; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18042128 - 22 Feb 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 809
Abstract
Objectives: To assess shared decision-making (SDM) knowledge, attitude and application among health professionals involved in breast cancer (BC) treatment. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study based on an online questionnaire, sent by several professional societies to health professionals involved in BC management. There [...] Read more.
Objectives: To assess shared decision-making (SDM) knowledge, attitude and application among health professionals involved in breast cancer (BC) treatment. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study based on an online questionnaire, sent by several professional societies to health professionals involved in BC management. There were 26 questions which combined demographic and professional data with some items measured on a Likert-type scale. Results: The participation (459/541; 84.84%) and completion (443/459; 96.51%) rates were high. Participants strongly agreed or agreed in 69.57% (16/23) of their responses. The majority stated that they knew of SDM (mean 4.43 (4.36–4.55)) and were in favour of its implementation (mean 4.58 (4.51–4.64)). They highlighted that SDM practice was not adequate due to lack of resources (3.46 (3.37–3.55)) and agreed on policies that improved its implementation (3.96 (3.88–4.04)). The main advantage of SDM for participants was patient satisfaction (38%), and the main disadvantage was the patients’ paucity of knowledge to understand their disease (24%). The main obstacle indicated was the lack of time and resources (40%). Conclusions: New policies must be designed for adequate training of professionals in integrating SDM in clinical practice, preparing them to use SDM with adequate resources and time provided. Full article
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Article
Information or Habit: What Health Policy Makers Should Know about the Drivers of Self-Medication among Romanians
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(2), 689; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18020689 - 14 Jan 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 951
Abstract
We use the Knowledge, Perceptions and Practices framework to analyze determinants of three types of self-medication practices in Romania: (1) self-medication in the case of cold/flu/viral infections; (2) taking non-prescribed medicine in general; and (3) self-medication based on recommendations by others. We analyzed [...] Read more.
We use the Knowledge, Perceptions and Practices framework to analyze determinants of three types of self-medication practices in Romania: (1) self-medication in the case of cold/flu/viral infections; (2) taking non-prescribed medicine in general; and (3) self-medication based on recommendations by others. We analyzed 706 responses to an online survey and used a factor-based Partial Least Squares algorithm (PLSF) to estimate the relationships between each type of self-medication and possible predictors. Our results show that self–medication is strongly predicted by non-cognitive behavioral factors such as habits and similarity of symptoms, while cognitive determinants such as knowledge and understanding of potential risks are not significantly associated with self-medication behaviors. This paper identifies nonlinear relationships among self-medication practices and its predictors and discusses how our results can help policymakers calibrate interventions with better accuracy. Full article
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Article
Italian Consensus Statement on Patient Engagement in Chronic Care: Process and Outcomes
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(11), 4167; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17114167 - 11 Jun 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1041
Abstract
Patient engagement has been recognized as a key priority in chronic care. However, scholars agree that guidelines are needed to ensure effective patient engagement strategies. To this end, a Consensus Conference process was promoted with the following methodological steps: (1) extensive literature review [...] Read more.
Patient engagement has been recognized as a key priority in chronic care. However, scholars agree that guidelines are needed to ensure effective patient engagement strategies. To this end, a Consensus Conference process was promoted with the following methodological steps: (1) extensive literature review about patient engagement initiatives in chronic care; (2) a stakeholders survey to collect best practices and (3) workshops with experts. On the basis of the information collected, a consensus statement was drafted, revised, and finalized by a panel of select renowned experts. These experts agreed in defining engagement as an eco-systemic concept involving multiple actors all of which contribute to influence patients’ willingness and ability to engage in chronic care. Moreover, experts recommended, whenever possible, to adopt standardized instruments to assess engagement levels and related unmet needs. Then, experts strongly advised appropriate trainings for healthcare professionals about patient engagement strategies. Furthermore, the importance of promoting healthcare professionals’ wellbeing has been advocated. Family caregivers, as well as patients’ organizations - should be trained and engaged to increase the effectiveness of interventions dedicated to patients. Finally, experts agreed that digital technologies should be considered as a crucial enhancer for patient engagement in chronic care. Full article
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