The Concordia projects by the National School of Public Health at the NOVA University of Lisbon (ENSP) were presented today in Lisbon, focusing on chronic kidney disease, heart failure, and type 2 diabetes mellitus.
These initiatives identified the main concerns, impacts, and constraints experienced by chronic patients and the perceptions of healthcare professionals, aiming to enhance care quality and health outcomes while aligning perceptions, concerns, and priorities between both parties.
“In all the diseases analyzed, professionals perceive a more negative impact of the disease than the individuals living with the condition,” the study concluded, noting the greatest discrepancies in emotional, social, and familial dimensions such as self-image, family life, and sexuality.
Specifically, in type 2 diabetes, individuals with the disease identified even “positive impacts, such as greater self-care,” which are rarely recognized by healthcare professionals, according to the project.
The ENSP team also concluded that for diabetes and heart failure, concerns are more focused on the present, including daily disease management, symptoms, and quality of life. In contrast, chronic kidney disease patients are more concerned with future implications such as the possibility of dialysis, transplants, and loss of autonomy.
Lifestyle ranks as the dimension with the least concern for the patients but is among the most valued by healthcare professionals participating in the Concordia projects.
The study suggests, as implications for health policies, that communication should be adopted as a therapeutic tool for aligning expectations between patients and healthcare professionals.
Moreover, it advocates the necessity for “active listening and valuing the experience” of patients, as well as revising clinical evaluation models to incorporate quality of life, autonomy, and health literacy as criteria.
As part of Concordia, dozens of initiatives were agreed upon for each project, focusing on areas like bridging the perspective gap between patients and healthcare professionals, promoting literacy, and ensuring access to quality care, among others.
The three projects, each addressing a specific disease, demonstrated that by listening to chronically ill individuals and involving them in the care process, it is possible “to transform how care is delivered, making it more humane, effective, and aligned with their real needs,” highlights the ENSP.
