Health Literacy, Patient Empowerment and Preventive Medicine
A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Health Behavior, Chronic Disease and Health Promotion".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (26 February 2021) | Viewed by 64016
Special Issue Editors
Interests: preventive medicine; primary health care; ethics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: health literacy
Interests: health literacy; economic evaluation in health
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Medicine has always aimed at efforts to cure diseases, both as a therapeutic strategy and as a preventive approach. Traditionally, a good doctor was one who made the correct diagnosis and prescribed the best medicines, whether medication or counseling. In recent years, the idea has emerged that there is a ceiling for medical efficiency for which the boundary is defined by the patients and the way in which they adhere to medical advice. Paternalism has given way to shared decision making, and it is necessary to improve the knowledge of patients so that they can be prepared to discuss their options with their doctors.
As noted above, this is a fairly recent idea. The MeSH term “health literacy” was only introduced in 2010 in PubMed. Health literacy is defined as the degree to which patients can obtain, process, and understand the basic health information and services needed to make the most appropriate choices about their care.
The aim is not only to teach patients about health issues but also to encourage them to develop attitudes and skills that will facilitate reasoned decision making. Although it is important to improve a patient’s adherence to medications from the curative perspective, this approach is far more relevant in preventive medicine, where the options of today will have a great impact on the future, for good and for bad.
The empowerment of patients is crucial, and the way to achieve it is the object of research.
The aim of this Special Issue is to assemble a set of articles that discuss the ways in which we may improve health literacy in patients, applying health strategies designed for the population to the individual. Original articles, significant case reports, and comprehensive reviews are welcome.
Prof. Dr. Paulo Santos
Prof. Dr. Inês Rosendo
Dr. Daniel Beirão
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- health Literacy
- preventive medicine
- health knowledge, attitudes, practice
- patient compliance
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