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

INTRODUCTION: In connection with a hospital stay, patients have to make important health-related decisions. They need to find, understand, assess and apply health-related information, and therefore, require health literacy. Adequately responding to the needs of patients requires promoting the communication skills of healthcare professionals within healthcare organisations. Health-literate healthcare organisations can provide an environment strengthening professionals' and patients' health literacy. When developing health-literate healthcare organisations, it has to be considered that implementing organisational change is typically challenging. In this study, a communication concept based on previously evaluated communication training is codesigned, implemented and evaluated in four clinical departments of a university hospital. METHOD AND ANALYSIS: In a codesign phase, focus group interviews among employees and patients as well as a workshop series with employees and hospital management are used to tailor the communication concept to the clinical departments and to patients' needs. Also, representatives responsible for the topic of health literacy are established among employees. The communication concept is implemented over a 12-month period; outcomes studied are health literacy on the organisational and patient levels. Longitudinal survey data acquired from a control cohort prior to the implementation phase are compared with data of an intervention cohort after the implementation phase. Moreover, survey data from healthcare professionals before and after the implementation are compared. For formative evaluation, healthcare professionals are interviewed in focus groups. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Medical Faculty of the University of Oldenburg and is in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Study participants are asked to provide written informed consent. The results are disseminated via direct communication within the hospital, publications and conference presentations. If the intervention turns out to be successful, the intervention and implementation strategies will be made available to other hospitals. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: DRKS00019830.

Are Value Preferences and Social Cohesion Interconnected? The Case of Mexico / ¿Están Conectadas las Preferencias de Valores y la Cohesión Social? El Caso de México

Abstract Social cohesion, the modern version of the fraternité motto of the French revolution, has become a hot social science topic. The paper addresses it from a social-psychological perspective, asking whether individually and societally prevailing value preferences are interconnected with the level of cohesion in society. Mexico serves as the case to examine whether findings for European countries, obtained in the Bertelsmann Social Cohesion Radar, can be generalized to Latin America. Is it true also in Mexico that strong self-transcendence values (Universalism) foster social cohesion, whereas strong self-enhancement values (Power) impede it? A large random probability quota sample (N = 2,003) was gathered to answer the research question. Results showed that, largely, findings from Europe could be generalized to the Mexican context. However, the role of Security values emerged as different. Whereas in Europe such value preferences covaried with low levels of cohesion, in Mexico they were generally associated with higher levels. The authors interpret this as evidence for negative consequences of neoliberal economic policies for social cohesion. Unlike in Europe, strong support for Security values seems to serve as a safeguard against capitalist economic pressures more so than being a sign for an egoistic preservation of one's own lot.

Resumen La cohesión social, versión moderna del lema fraternité de la revolución francesa, se ha vuelto un tópico relevante en la ciencia social. Este trabajo aborda el tema desde una perspectiva socio-psicológica, preguntándose si preferencias en valores individuales o sociales están relacionadas con el nivel de cohesión en la sociedad. México funciona como punto de comparación para ver si los hallazgos en países europeos, obtenidos del Radar de Cohesión Social Bertelsmann, pueden ser generalizados a América Latina. ¿Será también verdad que en México fuertes valores de auto-trascendencia (universalismo) fomentan la cohesión social, mientras que fuertes valores de auto-promoción (poder) la impiden? Una muestra aleatoria probabilística por cuotas (N=2003) se utilizó para contestar la pregunta de investigación. Los resultados muestran que, en su mayoría, los resultados de Europa podrían ser generalizados al contexto mexicano. Sin embargo, el rol de los valores de conservación resultó ser diferente. Mientras que en Europa dichas preferencias en valores covarían con bajos niveles de cohesión, en México están asociadas con altos niveles. Los autores interpretan esto como evidencia de las consecuencias ne-gativas de las políticas neoliberales económicas para la cohesión social. A diferencia de Europa, un fuerte apoyo a los valores de conservación parece servir como factor de protección ante las presiones capitalistas económicas más allá de ser una señal de tendencias egoístas de preservación hacia lo que uno tiene.