According to the World Health Organization (WHO), health literacy is defined as “the set of cognitive and social skills and the ability of individuals to access, understand and use information in order to promote and maintain good health.” More briefly, health literacy depends on the population’s ability to exercise a more controlled management of their health, as well as personal and social factors. However, when we talk about the elderly or people with a degree of dependency, literacy affects not only the person but also the person in the form of informal caregivers.
Health literacy has positive effects on several levels, but we can highlight: improving the health status of the user, reducing costs in terms of health care provided, and increasing knowledge on the part of all involved in the promotion process. The use of health services has decreased.
This topic has taken on an increasingly important role in the implementation of primary health care and with the current increasing concept of user centralization driving the acquisition of new practices in the health sector. With the development of the sector over the past few years, this centralization can be seen in two very strong points, namely the promotion of health culture and health information management. On this last point, the development of information systems in the sector supports the same management, allowing all clinical information to be centralized in the user.
As these two points become more present in health, the importance of the informal user or caregiver in health care planning along with professionals becomes apparent, highlighting what is now called “joint decision in health care”. It is for this joint work of health professionals and the user/informal care provider that the development of ICTs in health has a leading role in making this path possible. Technology is seen as a driver for promoting health literacy in an innovative and intuitive way for those who use it, allowing seamless communication between those with scientific knowledge (health professionals) and those in need of care or assistance (informal user or provider), and decision-making takes It takes into account all the factors that affect the quality of health and allows the user to know their reality, their needs and the care they should take with themselves. Essentially, we allow the user to get more information about themselves, by implementing a provision of care that is more innovative, easier, more effective and more focused on the needs of the user. In this way, the informal user/caregiver is one of the different actors in the chain of care delivery, contributing to their health literacy and enabling them to make more assertive decisions when faced with an abrupt situation.
In Portugal, the health sector is increasingly focusing on innovative information systems that allow interactive communication between health professionals and the user, allowing for a more effective flow of information and real-time decision-making. These systems are seen as transformative in terms of the process of care, while actively contributing to increasing the literacy of the population.
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