Research & theory
The Role of Distributed Health Literacy in Asthma Integrated Care: A Public Medical Context from Portugal
Authors:
- Liliana AbreuEmail Liliana Abreu
- João Arriscado-Nunes
- Peter Taylor
- Susana Silva
Abstract
Background: Improvements in asthma integrated care might be achieved through in-depth knowledge about how health literacy is dispersed through a group. This study intends to map out health literacy mediators (those who makes his/her literacy skills available to others for them to accomplish specific literacy purposes) and how they enable self-management skills in patients with asthma.
Methods: Twenty interviews were conducted in a Primary Care Center of Porto using the McGill Illness Narrative Interview. Data were thematically analyzed as case-based and process-tracing-oriented.
Results: Interviewees with a dense network of mediators revealed a low impact of asthma on their lives, dependence on primary care physician for instrumental support and dependence on family members to provide emotional/pragmatic support. Interviewees who relied on a restricted network of mediators (belonging to formal sources of health services and providing informational support) described episodes of crisis as disruptive and demonstrated a reactive approach to self-management skills.
Conclusions: The roles performed by core health mediators (health professionals, family/friends, media) in support of asthma management varied according to patients’ narratives of minimization/disruption, connected to dense/restricted social networks. To clarify the boundaries of responsibility-shifting and to enrich support provided by formal sources of health services and peer education groups is needed.
- Volume: 18
- Page/Article: 18
- DOI: 10.5334/ijic.3301
- Submitted on 8 Sep 2017
- Accepted on 14 May 2018
- Published on 5 Jun 2018
- Peer Reviewed