Five years on: analysis of university lecturers' experiences of the French government's health promotion education program.

BACKGROUND: The National Health Promotion Intervention Program by Student (HPIPS) is a French government educational program introduced in 2018, aiming at developing all health students' health promotion knowledge and abilities, as well as implementing health promotion interventions for specific subpopulations in the general public. Its pedagogical framework was elaborated in 2018 and then evaluated by the French Council for Public Health in 2022, highlighting certain difficulties for the program to be homogeneously implemented in France. The aim of this study was to explore and describe the experiences and feedback of university lecturers in charge of this HPIPS training. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with HPIPS lecturers from various health fields and from French universities, and a qualitative content analysis was carried out. RESULTS: Fourteen interviews were conducted during the autumn of 2022 with HPIPS program university lecturers including five doctors, three dentists, two nurses, two pharmacists, one midwife, and one physiotherapist from eight different towns belonging to six regions. Depending on the professional background, the component, and the local resources available, the teaching experience varied from one lecturer to another. A number of difficulties arose in setting up this educational program and complying with the latter legislation. The work overload was considerable, and the lecturers' heavy commitments some lecturers to be discouraged, especially since some lecturers were not trained in health promotion abilities. Although interprofessionality was a strength of this HPIPS, it was also its main challenge. Pedagogical innovations were developed, notably through the use of digital technology; cross-disciplinary collaboration was established; and lecturers-students specific boundaries have emerged thanks to this health promotion project. CONCLUSIONS: In France, setting up the HPIPS rapidly was experienced as a real pedagogical challenge for the interviewed university lecturers. While most of them noted the positive and beneficial contributions made by the introduction of prevention and health promotion intervention skills for health students, they also shared recommendations in order to match the ambitions and increase the HPIPS impact on the development of a culture of prevention and health promotion among health students.

Perceived impact of discussions with a healthcare professional on patients' decision regarding COVID-19 vaccine.

There is evidence that advice from Healthcare Professionals (HCPs) plays an important role in patients' decision to get vaccinated, but the extent to which patients perceive this impact is unclear. The aim of this study was to assess the perceived impact of a discussion with a HCP on participants' decision to be vaccinated against COVID-19. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among adults who consulted a general practitioner (GP) or a pharmacist in Ile-de-France, France, after COVID-19 vaccines became available (October-November 2021 period). A total of 344 participants were included, 65.2% of whom reported having had a discussion about COVID-19 vaccines with a HCP. Overall, 55% of participants were advised to be vaccinated by their HCP. Most of the discussions took place with a GP (n = 203, 48.9%). According to 52.5% of participants, the discussion had a positive impact, i.e. it was perceived as encouraging vaccination. The latter reported that, among HCPs, GPs had the greatest number of discussions with a positive impact on the decision to be vaccinated against COVID-19 (93.1%). In the study population, the COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy rate, according to the WHO definition, was high (38.1%), although the COVID-19 vaccine coverage rate was 87.1%. Vaccine hesitant participants were more likely to report a discussion that had a perceived negative impact on their decision to get vaccinated (20.0%) than non-hesitant participants (5.8%, p = .004).