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Newsletter EHLE, Number 1, July 2009 THEME: empowerment Welcome to the EHLE project! An European project on Empowering Health Learning for Elderly. This is the first newsletter of the EHLE project and we will update you every month with new issues from the 4 countries: Italy, Spain, France and the Netherlands. In every newsletter we will provide an overview of the project status, plans for the next month, and interesting news from the (scientific) field. Project status The project consists of three phases: 1) perception analysis, 2) Development of training concept and training toolbox, 3) Dissemination and exploitation Phase 3 will be executed in the last period of the project. Concerning phase 1 and 2 we have the following news: - Perception analysis. In each of the 4 countries 300 questionnaires were collected among people older than 55 years. Results of the analysis will become available later.
- Training concept and training toolbox. The training concept has been developed and we now have 6 training modules on 1) physical activity, 2) nutrition and diet, 3) daily habits (tobacco and alcohol), 4) use of medication, 5) communication, 6) emotional health. In addition, video’s and leaflets have been developed in order to support the training.
Plans for the next month: - - During the last month, the training concept and toolbox have been used in pilot trainings in both Italy and France. Italy has performed two pilot trainings in Padova. France has organized a pilot training in Nice and another one in Caen. In the next month, all information that was collected during these pilot trainings will be used to improve and finish the training concept and toolbox.
- A handbook that describes how to use the training concept and toolbox will be developed now.
EMPOWERMENT The theme of this newsletter is empowerment. This is the aim of the project: to empower elderly people to adopt a healthy lifestyle. But what exactly is empowerment? And how can you empower the people you work with? We will try to give you an answer to these questions and provide some links to relevant literature. Empowerment = helping people to discover and use their own ability to gain mastery over their health or disease. This approach came from the idea that, although professionals are the experts on care, people are experts on their own life and should therefore have the central role in healthcare. Literature: Funnel MM: Patient empowerment. Critical Care Nursing Quartely. Volume 27. Year: 2004. Page 201-204. How can you empower people? Empowering people to adopt a healthy lifestyle requires three steps: - Inform people: what are their health risks? They need this information to be able to make their own decisions. For example: what are the risks for someone with a high cholesterol level or a high blood pressure? Literature: * Misselbrook D, Armstrong D: Thinking about risk. Can doctors and patients talk the same language? Family Practice. Volume 19. Year: 2002. Page 1-2 * van der Weijden T, van Steenkiste B, Coenen J, Stoffers HEJH, Timmermans DRM, and Grol R. Primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases in general practice. Mismatch between cardiovascular risk and the patient’s perception. Medical Decision Making. Volume 27. Year 2007. Page 754-761
- Motivate people to change: help them to realise that they can improve their health by changing. Motivate them by giving a positive message: you can improve your health yourself! It is important that you just motivate them rather then force them to change. People have to choose themselves if they would like to change and what they would like to change. Link: http://www.motivationalinterview.org/ Literature: Miller WR, Rollnick S: Motivational interviewing, preparing people for change. The Guilford Press, New York, 2002
- Goal setting: help people how they can set their goals to change. This starts with short-term goals and should continue with long-term goals, which means that eventually the daily life has changed. Literature: Mynors-Wallis LM: Problem solving treatment for anxiety and depression. A practical guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005
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