Pratiques hospitalières et de médecine générale d’éducation thérapeutique : l’exemple du diabète et de l’obésité en Belgique

Abstract

Introduction/Objectives: Therapeutic Patient Education (TPE) is now part of the new medical landscape, including for the prevention and treatment of diabetes and obesity. While some countries, such as France, have decided to give priority to TPE in public health policy by means of legal recognition, no such framework has been developed in Belgium. The purpose of this article is to describe the actual TPE practices of health professionals (HP) in this environment.Methods: 82 face-to-face interviews (20 GPs and 62 hospital healthcare professionals) were conducted according to a semi-structured interview guide developed from the French Health Authority guidelines. Qualitative content analysis was performed on the data collected.Results/Discussion: For the majority of respondents, TPE is limited to brief information about the disease, its risk factors and complications. This representation of TPE determines the practical modalities of the educational activity right from the educational diagnosis. The possibilities for developing the patient’s capacities are limited. Practices reflect a lack of pedagogical structuring and do not correspond to a real multidisciplinary approach.Conclusion: Healthcare professionals must develop a clear vision of the implications of the concept of TPE and must therefore receive adequate training to ensure good quality development and implementation.

Predictors of change in asthma-related quality of life: a longitudinal real-life study in adult asthmatics

“…Our finding is supported by the demonstration that providing patient with information about the disease, particularly by increasing patients’ knowledge of how to treat their symptoms, may improve asthma control and quality of life [ 44 ]. Indeed, this reinforcement of knowledge on the disease and on the techniques of taking bronchodilators is part of therapeutic patient education recognized as contributing to an improvement of quality of life, although this practice is still not formalized and institutionalized in Belgium [ 45 ].…”

The use of patient‐reported outcome measures by healthcare professionals in specialized asthma management centers in French‐speaking Belgium: A mixed‐methods study

“… 40 Our results feed the model by demonstrating, in the context of asthma, that the inclusion of PROMs in an educational approach would require, in particular, the use of tools allowing the capture of a more global image of the patient, as well as an overcoming of the representation that HPs have of PROMs reducing them to a simple number masking the complexity of the context of the patients' lives. Furthermore, in a country like Belgium where patient education is not formalized and institutionalized, 51 we believe that PROMs can represent a simple and effective trigger to initiate a form of patient education which is recognized as essential in asthma management by international guidelines. 25…”

“…Furthermore, in a country like Belgium where patient education is not formalized and institutionalized, 51 we believe that PROMs can represent a simple and effective trigger to initiate a form of patient education which is recognized as essential in asthma management by international guidelines. 25…”