141st APHA Annual Meeting

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284293
Creating a pathway for passive patients to become effective patients: A skill-building strategy for patient activation

Tuesday, November 5, 2013 : 5:10 PM - 5:30 PM

Luz Santana, M.A. , The Right Question Institute, Cambridge, MA
This presentation will explore how an evidence-based educational strategy can build the capacity of traditionally passive and disengaged patients to participate more effectively in their healthcare, advocate for themselves and partner with health care providers. Participants will examine how the teaching of two skills – the ability to ask question and the ability to focus effectively on decisions – can be integrated into existing healthcare services. The ability to ask questions and focus on decisions are two deceptively simple skills. They could be seen as just two among many skills and abilities patients could use to participate more effectively in their health care. These are, however, two foundational skills that can complement and enhance existing efforts to promote greater patient activation. Participants in the session will have the opportunity to review the evolution of the Right Question-Effective Patient Strategy and distinguish this approach from more traditional efforts to motivate patients, provide them with information or even offer a list of pre-determined questions. We will explain how our direct experiences with Medicaid-funded services as well as on-going educational and research work in many fields and communities inform the strategy. Participants will be introduced to all the essential steps that comprise the core methodology of the Right Question Effective Patient Strategy. The session will also provide examples of how the strategy produces significant cognitive, affective, and behavioral changes in patients, and has proven to be particularly effective for increasing patient activation in low-income communities.

Learning Areas:
Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Advocacy for health and health education
Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Chronic disease management and prevention
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
Name the value of building patients skills for advocacy and for participation in decision-making. Identify two foundational skills all patients should learn: the ability to ask questions and focus effectively on decisions. Assess which approaches can effectively build patients advocacy and partnering skills. Examine their current practices and how they can integrate a skill building strategy into their ongoing work. Distinguish between integrated strategies and discrete interventions to build patients skills.

Keywords: Self-sufficiency and Empowerment, Health Education Strategies

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the co-director of an educational organization that focuses on designing effective ways to build the capacity of people in low-income communities to think and act on their own behalf. I am the co-author of a book published by Harvard Education Press on teaching students to ask their own questions. I am a former welfare recipient with extensive personal experience in navigating public systems.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.