Whether it is choosing how we want to live our lives or how we use health care services – every day, people make decisions that impact their health. Health literacy is essential for people to find their way around an increasingly complex health care system and make choices that actually benefit their health. Health literacy refers to the skills and abilities that allow people to find, understand, and evaluate health information and to take the right path of action for them. People with chronic conditions, in particular, face numerous challenges. Across all age groups, around 40 percent of people in Germany are chronically ill, while in older age groups as much as 57 percent of the population are affected. Health literacy and the ability to participate in the treatment process in an informed manner are particularly important in this context, as the level of health literacy of a person with a chronic condition has a greater impact on the state of their health, well-being, and quality of life than it does for a healthy person. The health care system itself also faces challenges around health literacy, for instance in identifying barriers and providing health information or forms of support. From an academic perspective, however, research into health literacy and how it relates to people with chronic conditions is still very much in its infancy in Germany. This is why we support an interdisciplinary PhD program at Hannover Medical School (MHH) for twelve junior researchers approaching the subject from different perspectives. We hope the program will provide valuable insights into the interplay of health literacy, disease management, and systemic conditions, and ultimately improve the care provided to chronically ill people by developing innovative models.
Lennart Helal