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Communication
Protocol
Improving professional health literacy in hospitals: study protocol of a participatory codesign and implementation study
  1. Johanna Sophie Lubasch1,
  2. Mona Voigt-Barbarowicz2,
  3. Sonia Lippke3,
  4. Rudy Leon De Wilde4,
  5. Frank Griesinger5,
  6. Djordje Lazovic6,
  7. Paloma Citlálli Ocampo Villegas3,
  8. Julia Roeper5,
  9. Daniela Salzmann7,
  10. Gesine H Seeber6,
  11. Luz-Angela Torres-de-la-Roche4,
  12. Dirk Weyhe7,
  13. Lena Ansmann1,
  14. Anna Levke Brütt2
  1. 1Division for Organizational Health Services Research, Department of Health Services Research, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Lower Saxony, Germany
  2. 2Junior Research Group for Rehabilitation Sciences, Department of Health Services Research, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Lower Saxony, Germany
  3. 3Department of Psychology & Methods, Jacobs University Bremen gGmbH, Bremen, Germany
  4. 4University Hospital for Gynaecology, Pius-Hospital Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Lower Saxony, Germany
  5. 5University Hospital for Haematology and Oncology, Pius-Hospital Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Lower Saxony, Germany
  6. 6University Hospital of Orthopedics and Trauma Surgery Pius-Hospital, Medical Campus University Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Lower Saxony, Germany
  7. 7University Hospital for Visceral Surgery, Pius-Hospital Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Lower Saxony, Germany
  1. Correspondence to Mona Voigt-Barbarowicz; mona.voigt-barbarowicz{at}uni-oldenburg.de

Abstract

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.

  • organisational development
  • organisation of health services
  • medical education & training
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-045835

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    Footnotes

    • JSL and MV-B contributed equally.

    • LA and ALB contributed equally.

    • Contributors LA, ALB and SL have contributed to the development of this protocol and applied for research funding. LA, ALB and SL developed the analytical strategy and overall methodology, and JSL, MV-B, RLDW, FG, DL, PCOV, JR, DS, GHS, L-AT-d-l-R and DW contributed to designing the study. JSL, MV-B, LA and ALB designed data collection tools and defined the sampling criteria. JSL and MV-B wrote the first andfinal drafts of the protocol. LA, ALB and SL revised all sections of the manuscript and are guarantors. JSL, MV-B, SL, RLDW, FG, DL, PCOV, JR, DS, GHS, L-AT-d-l-R, DW, LA and ALB have read, revisedand approved the final manuscript.

    • Funding The study is funded by the Federal Ministry of Health on the basis of a resolution of the German Bundestag (grant no. 2519FSB519).

    • Disclaimer The funder receives all reports but has no ultimate authority over any of these activities, securing good scientific practice and independence of the researchers.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.