Abstracts by keywords: Health Literacy
Durch die fortschreitende Digitalisierung im Gesundheitswesen erhalten immer mehr Menschen online Zugang zu ihren Gesundheitsdaten. Wichtige Instrumente sind dabei Patientenportale und insbesondere die elektronische Patientenakte (ePA), über die Versicherten Befunde, Arztbriefe und andere Dokumente bereitgestellt werden. Ziel dieses Systems ist es auch, die Einbindung in die eigene Versorgung zu stärken und die Selbstverwaltung zu fördern […]
05.10.2026
Background: With the use of artificial intelligence (AI), interest in AI systems such as ChatGPT for disseminating health information is growing. AI has the potential to improve public health literacy by serving as a source of information. At the same time, questions arise about the possibilities and limitations of AI use, particularly with regard to the quality and reliability of the information provided.
02.04.2025
With the introduction of the Digital Care Act (DVG) in 2019, the statutory health insurance companies (GKVn) received the legal mandate under Section 20k SGB V to provide their insured persons with “services to promote the self-determined, health-oriented use of digital or telemedical applications and procedures.” to offer.
05.06.2023
Von den weltweit circa 11 Millionen sepsis-assoziierten Todesfällen hält die WHO die Mehrzahl für vermeidbar. Hierfür gibt es zwei wesentliche Ansatzpunkte: erstens die Prävention von Infektionen und zweitens die frühzeitige Erkennung von Sepsis-Symptomen, denn eine Sepsis ist ein medizinischer Notfall, bei dem jede zeitliche Verzögerung die Prognose verschlechtert. Da seit langem bekannt ist, dass in Deutschland das Sepsis-Wissen älterer Menschen, die per se einer Risikogruppe angehören, gering ist (Eitze et al. 2018), fördert das Bundesgesundheitsministerium seit Juli 2021 den Aufbau der Kampagne „Deutschland erkennt Sepsis“ (1), die vom Aktionsbündnis Patientensicherheit, dem Sepsis-Dialog der Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, der Deutschen Sepsis-Hilfe sowie der Deutschen Sepsis-Stiftung gemeinsam umgesetzt wird.
02.08.2022
Relatives such as children, spouses, parents, siblings or friends often play central roles in outpatient and inpatient care. Although most of the discourse is about relatives providing care, relatives also act, for example, as referrers, mediators, information seekers, translators or decision-makers (Bischofberger, 2011). They are thus (regardless of the patient's care needs) essential support in the treatment and management of numerous diseases (Reifegerste, 2019). At the same time, however, they can also disrupt care processes or at least be perceived accordingly by healthcare professionals because, for example, they impede the patient's recovery by providing too much support, their absence makes discharge more difficult, or they confront the doctors with too high expectations (Wilz & Meichsner, 2012 ). However, the majority of them show a high level of motivation to support the patient in coping with illnesses, so that the question arises as to how their motivation can be integrated well into care processes. Although the relatives are omnipresent in health care - be it with positive as well as negative consequences - they are often not considered as a stakeholder of the care. They are “hidden in plain sight” (Wolff & Roter, 2008). In nursing facilities, in paediatrics, oncology or palliative care, they are usually considered to be key participants. In many other areas of care, on the other hand, they are sometimes regarded as an annoying appendage of the patient, ignored or even actively avoided, even if there are hardly any diseases or patients in which they play no role at all (Reifebarste, in press).
28.07.2020
With its high density of care facilities, free access to medical services, free choice of doctor and a high degree of differentiation, the German health system offers its insured persons a wide range of services and a variety of options. Responsible and enlightened patients use this freedom and are increasingly taking matters into their own hands: They are better informed than ever before, question, demand, know their rights and work proactively to regain or maintain their health. Such self-determined and competent use of the care system requires that patients can deal with health-relevant information and actively participate in decision-making processes. However, the current study situation indicates that this is often not the case. According to this, over half of the German population faces significant problems when it comes to finding, understanding, assessing and applying health-relevant information (Schaeffer et al. 2016). The skills and abilities required for this are defined as “health literacy”. Competent handling of health-relevant information forms the basis for taking an active role in the treatment process, finding your way around the diversity of instances in the system and being able to participate in decisions in the treatment process. The term “health literacy”, which is derived from the English “health literacy”, has been growing in popularity in German specialist literature for several years and is increasingly being described as a significant factor in the public health debate worldwide (Sørensen et al. 2012).
04.10.2019
In the healthcare system, users are increasingly required to be able to find, understand, assess and apply health information to their own situation in order to make decisions, for example, about the treatment and care of illnesses or the recovery and maintenance of health. The knowledge, motivation and skills to deal with health-related information are referred to by experts as health literacy (Sørensen et al. 2012). Health literacy is the interaction of personal abilities and the requirements and complexity of situations and systems in which people move (Schaeffer et al. 2018). But people often face difficulties in dealing with health information.
04.06.2018
Since the beginning of 2018, Germany has also had a “National Action Plan to Strengthen Health Literacy” following the example of other countries. Created by an independent group of experts, the plan contains fifteen recommendations that relate to four major areas of action: everyday living environments, the healthcare system, life with chronic illness and research (Schaeffer et al. 2018). The following article first provides a brief overview of the current state of discussion on the topic of “health literacy” and then explains why an action plan makes sense and is necessary, what empirical foundations it is based on and what its content focuses. The recommendation for promoting research on health literacy is then presented and explained. It is shown that the National Action Plan can also be read as an agenda for new approaches and topics in health services research.
04.06.2018
On February 19, 2018, the “National Health Literacy Action Plan” (NAP) was presented to the public (Schaeffer et al., 2018). Following the example of other countries, it lists the most important challenges for improving the population's health education and promoting health communication among professional staff in educational and care facilities (see Figures 1 and 2) and then makes targeted recommendations. The project was financially supported by the Robert Bosch Foundation, the AOK Federal Association, Bielefeld University and the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin. It is headed by Prof. Dr. Doris Schaeffer, Prof. Dr. Klaus Hurrelmann, Prof. Dr. Ullrich Bauer and Dr. Kai Kolpatzik. The following article addresses the first of the NAP's 15 recommendations, which focuses on strengthening health literacy in the education sector.