Scientific project leader:
Prof. Dr. Lena Ansmann
PD Dr. Anna Levke Brütt
Prof. Dr. Sonia Lippke (Jacobs University Bremen)

Research associates:
Johanna Lubasch
Mona Voigt-Barbarowicz 

Christina Derksen (Jacobs University Bremen)

Student assistants:
Giulia Hollje

Hannah Nordmann

Collaboration partners:
PIUS Hospital Oldenburg

• University clinic for Visceral Surgery
• University clinic for Gynaecology
• University clinic for Orthopaedics and Trauma Surgery
• University clinic for Internal Medicine - Oncology

Duration:
10/2019 - 09/2022 (extended until 01/2023)

Funding institution:
Federal Ministry of Health 

During a hospital stay, patients have important health-related decisions to make. They need to find, understand, evaluate and apply health-related information - their health literacy in terms of their ability, motivation and attitude play a special role. However, every second person in Germany is considered to have a problematic or inadequate health literacy. Lower health literacy is related to higher health risks and also to poorer patient-related and health-related outcomes. It is now acknowledged that health literacy is based, on the one hand, on the personal skills and abilities of each individual but, on the other hand, on the demands and complexity of systems, organizations and living environments.

In order to respond adequately to the needs of patients or to support low-level health literacy, the communication skills of health professions in health care organizations should be promoted. Additional supporting measures to develop a health-literate organization can potentially lead to a high degree dissemination.

In the research project, a concept for the promotion of health-literacy-sensitive professional communication will be adapted to the needs and conditions of patients as well as staff from four clinics of a hospital. Therefore, a piloted communication training is adapted to the health professions by means of tailoring. In addition, structural measures will be jointly developed to help hospitals develop into health-literate organizations. The participatory development phase includes focus groups for the survey of needs, barriers and funding factors of the health-literacy-sensitive communication of employees as well as of patients in everyday clinical routine. In addition, workshops will be held on the tailoring of the communication concept and contact persons for health literacy will be established in the clinics. In the formative evaluation, patients and employees are interviewed in focus groups. The summative evaluation compares longitudinal survey data from patients in the control cohort before implementation of the concept with the intervention cohort after implementation. The primary outcome is organizational health literacy measured from the patient's perspective. In addition, the communication skills of employees before and after the implementation of the concept as well as the patient orientation of care are surveyed.

Publications

Study protocol: Improving professional health literacy in hospitals: study protocol of a participatory codesign and implementation study

Congress contributions

Presentations

Lubasch, J. S.; Voigt-Barbarowicz, M.; Ernstmann, N.; Kowalski, C.; Brütt, A. L.; Ansmann, L. (2021): Eine Organisation – unterschiedliche Perspektiven? Die Einschätzung organisationaler Gesundheitskompetenz und ihrer Dimensionen innerhalb eines Krankenhauses. 20. Deutscher Kongress für Versorgungsforschung. Deutsches Netzwerk Versorgungsforschung e.V. Deutscher Kongress für Versorgungsforschung. Online-Kongress, 06.10.2021.

Voigt-Barbarowicz, M.; Lubasch, J. S.; Ansmann, L.; Brütt, A.L.: Gesundheitskompetenz aus Sicht von Klinikmitarbeitenden – Bedarfe, Barrieren und förderliche Faktoren bei der Kommunikation mit Patient*innen. 20. Deutscher Kongress für Versorgungsforschung. Deutsches Netzwerk Versorgungsforschung e.V. Deutscher Kongress für Versorgungsforschung. Online-Kongress, 06.10.2021

Lubasch, J. S.; Voigt-Barbarowicz, M.; Ernstmann, N.; Kowalski, C., Brütt, A. L.; Ansmann, L. (2021): Organisationale Gesundheitskompetenz und ihre Dimensionen - Einschätzung aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven innerhalb eines Krankenhauses. Gemeinsame Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Medizinische Psychologie (DGMP) und der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Medizinische Soziologie (DGMS). Online-Kongress, 16.09.2021.

Posters

Lubasch, J. S.; Voigt-Barbarowicz, M.; Wilde, R. L. de; Griesinger, F.; Lazovic, D.; Ocampo Villegas, P.; Roeper, J.; Salzmann, D.; Seeber, G.; Torres-de la Roche, Luz Angela; Weyhe, D.; Lippke, S.; Ansmann, L.; Levke Brütt, A. (2020): Wie für uns gemacht Partizipativ angelegte Implementierung eines Kommunikationskonzepts zur Verbesserung der professionellen Gesundheitskompetenz. PiKoG. 19. Deutscher Kongress für Versorgungsforschung. Deutsches Netzwerk Versorgungsforschung e.V. Deutscher Kongress für Versorgungsforschung. Online-Kongress, 30.09.2020.