Leveraging Organizational Health Literacy to Enhance Health Promotion and Risk Prevention: A Narrative and Interpretive Literature Review

Organizational health literacy involves the health care organizations' ability to establish an empowering and co-creating relationship with patients, engaging them in the design and delivery of health services in collaboration with health professionals. Although scholars agree that organizational health literacy contributes to health promotion and risk prevention via patient empowerment, literature is not consistent in depicting the interplay between organizational health literacy and preventive medicine. The article intends to shed light into this issue, summarizing current knowledge about this topic and advancing avenues for further development. A narrative literature review was performed through a systematic search on PubMed®, Scopus®, and Web of Science™. The review focused on 50 relevant contributions. Organizational health literacy triggers the transition towards a patient-centered approach to care. It complements individual health literacy, enabling patients to actively participate in health promotion and risk prevention as co-producers of health services and co-creators of value. However, many obstacles - including lack of time and limited resources available - prevent the transition towards health literate health care organizations. Two initiatives are required to overcome extant barriers. On the one hand, a health literate workforce should be prepared to increase the institutional ability of health care organizations to empower and engage patients in health co-creation. On the other hand, increased efforts should be made to assess organizational health literacy and to make its contribution to preventive medicine explicit

Involved at work and disinvolved out of work: unraveling the implications of involvement on accountants' work–life balance

PurposeBeing involved at work advances accountants' contribution to organizational success. However, scholars are not consistent in discussing involvement's implications on work-life balance (WLB). The article aims to address this issue, investigating involvement's effects on the accountants' ability to manage the work-life interplay.Design/methodology/approachSecondary data on a sample of 538 accountants were collected from the sixth European Working Condition Survey (EWCS). A serial mediation analysis was designed to obtain evidence of involvement's implications on WLB through the mediating role of work engagement and work satisfaction.FindingsInvolvement negatively affected the accountants' ability to deal with the work-life interplay. Engagement and satisfaction with work mediated this relationship. More specifically, involved accountants who were engaged and satisfied with their work conditions were less likely to report struggles between work and life.Research limitations/implicationsInvolvement implies an intensification of work, heralding an overlapping between work and life. Nonetheless, accountants who are engaged and satisfied with work are less touched by involvement's drawback on WLB. A precautionary approach should be taken to avoid that involvement results in workaholism, thus undermining individual well-being.Originality/valueThe article originally discusses involvement's implications on WLB across accountants. Being involved at work impairs the individual ability to achieve a balance between work and life, endangering well-being at work. Whilst the findings cannot be generalized beyond the accounting profession, they deliver some intriguing insights that highlight avenues for further developments

Exploring the Organizational Health Literacy of Municipal Pharmacies: The Quest for a Health Literate Organizational Environment

Health literacy has been usually described as an individual trait (French & Hernandez, 2013), which concerns the ability of patients to properly navigate the health care system (Nutbeam, 2008). In line with this prevailing interpretation, the organizational side of health literacy, that is to say the ability of health care organizations to establish clear and comfortable relationships with patients, has been widely overlooked (Brach, et al., 2012). In addition, when examined, the enhancement of organizational health literacy has been mainly understood as a call for action for health care providers (Brach, Dreyer, & Schillinger, 2014), thus neglecting its structural and managerial implications. To the knowledge of the Authors, this paper is one of the first attempt to discuss organizational health literacy as a core attribute of a specific type of organizations operating within the Italian National Health Service. In particular, the attention has been focused on municipal pharmacies, which are conceived as the most fitting organizational context to handle the effects of the patients’ inadequate understanding of health information on the effectiveness of health care provision. Drawing from the findings of a mainly exploratory analysis, this paper provides several empirical insights about, on the one hand, the awareness of organizational health literacy of a convenience sample of municipal pharmacies operating in Southern Italy and, on the other hand, their ability to meet the information needs of people living with limited health literacy skills. The results of this study suggest that the units of analysis are aware of the impacts of inadequate health literacy on the appropriateness and effectiveness of health care; however, their commitment to address the needs and the expectations of low health literate patients is still poor

L'imperativo della collaborazione: la prospettiva inter-organizzativa per una nuova lettura dell'integrazione socio-sanitaria

2012 - 2013Il lavoro di tesi propone una sistematizzazione dei contributi scientifici in materia di “relazioni inter-organizzative” (inter-organizational relationships, secondo la definizione anglosassone), nell’intento di pervenire alla formulazione di un framework teorico unitario da impiegare per lo studio – sia in chiave concettuale che empirica – delle dinamiche di cooperazione e collaborazione che si innescano tra le aziende del settore pubblico. Sebbene il quadro teorico proposto possa trovare applicazione in tutte le sfere di azione in cui sono impegnate entità di natura pubblica, l’Autore concentra la sua attenzione sul caso dell’integrazione socio-sanitaria, da intendersi quale complesso processo di ricomposizione della condizione di frammentazione istituzionale, professionale, culturale, organizzativa e operativa che si riscontra all’interno del sistema dei servizi di assistenza alla persona in stato di bisogno. Alla luce del graduale processo di evoluzione che si riscontra nei modelli di gestione tipicamente adottati in ambito pubblico, l’elaborato evidenzia la tensione in seno al sistema socio-sanitario verso l’implementazione di un approccio sistemico, evocativamente definito di New Health Governance, inteso a enfatizzare l’importanza assunta dalle relazioni inter-organizzative ai fini dell’efficace ed efficiente perseguimento delle finalità istituzionalmente assegnate alle aziende sanitarie e sociali. D’altro canto, malgrado comunemente descritte come parti di un “sistema a legami deboli”, queste ultime si dimostrano il più delle volte non in grado di valorizzare in maniera appropriata le sinergie latenti che le caratterizzano, con profonde ripercussioni sia sulla loro capacità di rispondere in maniera appropriata alle complesse istanze dell’utenza che sulle loro condizioni di sostenibilità economica e gestionale. A partire da tali riflessioni, le relazioni inter-organizzative sono presentate quale fattore critico per il successo delle aziende pubbliche in generale e delle organizzazioni sanitarie e sociali in particolare. In considerazione, da un lato, della condizione di frammentazione che è possibile riscontrare nella letteratura in materia di relazioni inter-organizzative e, dall’altro, della rilevanza di queste ultime sotto il profilo strategico, organizzativo e gestionale, è stata condotta una minuziosa literature review “a doppio strato” dei principali contributi scientifici di rilievo nazionale e internazionale sull’argomento, nel precipuo intento di pervenire a una sistematizzazione di quanto argomentato e dibattuto in dottrina. In primo luogo, l’analisi della letteratura è stata finalizzata alla raccolta di argomentazioni teoriche e di evidenze empiriche in merito ai determinanti delle strategie collaborative tra due o più organizzazioni, alle dinamiche di nascita e governo delle relazioni inter-organizzative a esse sottese, ai benefici e ai costi associati a queste ultime, nonché ai modelli di governo e agli approcci di gestione delle interazioni sistemiche. Le locuzioni “inter-organizational relation”, “inter-organizational relationship”, “interorganizational relation” e “interorganizational relationship” sono state impiegate come query ai fini della ricerca per “parole chiave, titolo e abstract” all’interno del database “Scopus-Elsevier”, senza assumere vincoli temporali o criteri di esclusione basati sulla tipologia della pubblicazione. Un totale di 1.333 fonti bibliografiche è stato raccolto; queste ultime sono state successivamente catalogate in appositi fogli di lavoro elettronici e sistematizzate, nell’intento di scremare le ridondanze – vale a dire i contributi considerati più volte in ragione della loro rispondenza a più chiavi di ricerca – e pervenire alla redazione di un elenco finale delle opere da sottoporre a scrutinio per l’inclusione all’interno della literature review. Tale attività di filtraggio ha determinato l’eliminazione di ben 603 item, consentendo di focalizzare l’attenzione sui restanti 730 contributi, sottoposti a una minuziosa analisi del contenuto dei rispettivi abstract. Sulla base di opportuni criteri di selezione, diretti a rimuovere dall’elenco il materiale bibliografico non coerente alle finalità perseguite nel presente lavoro di tesi, sono stati identificati 157 contributi rilevanti – rappresentati per tre quarti da articoli in rivista e, per la restante parte, da capitoli in volumi collettanei e monografie. In secondo luogo, il quadro teorico in materia di relazioni inter-organizzative è stato tradotto nella prospettiva dell’integrazione socio-sanitaria. Utilizzando in maniera congiunta le banche dati “Scopus Elsevier”, “PubMed” ed “Emeroteca Virtuale”, è stata avviata un’ulteriore attività di reperimento del materiale bibliografico, focalizzando l’attenzione sugli studi aventi ad oggetto l’organizzazione e/o la gestione integrata delle prestazioni socio-assistenziali. I termini “integrated care”, “health and social care integration”, “healthcare and social care integration” e “social care and healthcare integration” – per il reperimento dei contributi internazionali – e le locuzioni “integrazione socio-sanitaria”, “assistenza integrata”, “sistema socio-sanitario” e “sistema integrato di assistenza” – per il reperimento della letteratura italiana – sono stati impiegati quale parametro di ricerca principale all’interno del campo “parole chiave, titolo e abstract”. Il loro utilizzo è stato affiancato da termini di ricerca secondari, ricavati dai risultati della revisione della letteratura condotta durante lo step precedente, tra cui – a titolo esemplificativo, ma non esaustivo – “inter-organizational relation”, “alliance”, “collaboration” e “cooperation” per le pubblicazioni internazionali e “sinergie”, “interazioni organizzative” e “interdipendenze organizzative” per i contributi nazionali. Anche in tal caso, nessun vincolo temporale e nessun criterio di esclusione sono stati impiegati in sede di configurazione dei parametri della ricerca. La query ha condotto alla raccolta di un numero complessivo di circa 600 contributi scientifici, tra cui articoli in rivista, contributi in atti di convegno, monografie e capitoli in volumi collettanei; in seguito all’eliminazione dei documenti ridondanti, il numero originario si è ridotto a 472 documenti, su cui è stata condotta un’analisi di significatività e di rilevanza ai fini degli obiettivi della presente ricerca, attraverso la lettura dei relativi abstract. Ad esito di tale attività di scrematura, sono state selezionate poco più di 200 pubblicazioni, che hanno rappresentato la base per l’inquadramento dell’integrazione socio-sanitaria nella prospettiva delle relazioni inter-organizzative. Più dell’85% di questi ultimi rientra nella categoria degli articoli su rivista; la parte residua si compone prevalentemente di rapporti istituzionali, capitoli in volumi collettanei e, in via residuale, monografie. All’inquadramento concettuale dell’integrazione socio-sanitaria nella prospettiva delle relazioni inter-organizzative segue la descrizione sistematica dei determinanti che contribuiscono a spiegare la nascita e lo sviluppo di queste ultime. Particolare attenzione è dedicata alle motivazioni che spingono le aziende sanitarie e sociali a ricorrere a strategie collaborative piuttosto che competitive. In questa prospettiva, i benefici associati alle interazioni sono confrontati ai sacrifici che emergono a seguito della loro istituzione, soprattutto in termini di restrizione della discrezionalità organizzativa e di perdita di autonomia strategica e gestionale. In aggiunta, si propone a una sistematizzazione dei modelli più comuni di governo e gestione delle relazioni inter-organizzative, cui si congiunge un’approfondita discussione in merito agli approcci di valutazione più appropriati per la misurazione delle performance interorganizzative. Nella parte conclusiva, l’integrazione socio-sanitaria è indagata precipuamente in relazione ai suoi caratteri di stabilità e di intensità. Coerentemente, alcune “regole empiriche” per l’implementazione dell’integrazione socio-sanitaria sono esposte, identificando i fattori abilitanti e ostativi a essa. Diversi casi internazionali, tra cui il “Budget di salute” nella regione Campania, sono impiegati quali esperienze empiriche protese a tradurre in termini teorici il costrutto teorico proposto nello sviluppo del lavoro di tesi. Dalle evidenze riportate, le relazioni inter-organizzative emergono quale strumento indispensabile, ma di difficile implementazione ai fini del recupero di efficienza, efficacia ed economicità nelle attività di assistenza alle persone in stato di bisogno. [a cura dell'autore]XII n.s

Bladder tumours in children : an interesting case report of TCC with a partial inverted growth pattern

Bladder urothelial carcinoma is typically a disease of older individuals and rarely occurs below the age of 40 years. There is debate and uncertainty in the literature regarding the clinicopathologic and prognostic characteristics of bladder urothelial neoplasms in younger patients compared with older patients, although no consistent age criteria have been used to define "younger" age group categories. We report on a 16 years old girl with transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder with a partial inverted growth pattern who presented with gross hematuria. Ultrasonography revealed a papillary lesion in the bladder; cystoscopic evaluation showed a 15 mm papillary lesion with a thick stalk located in the left bladder wall. Pathologic evaluation of the specimen was reported as "low grade transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder with a partial inverted growth pattern"

Does make-up make you feel smarter? The "lipstick effect" extended to academic achievement.

AbstractPrevious studies have shown that higher levels of self-esteem are associated with better academic performance. However, there is no evidence if make-up can indirectly influence academic achievement and cognition through self-esteem. In this study, we examined the possibility that make-up can affect academic performance by asking 186 female undergraduate students to take a simulated university examination. Participants were randomly assigned to three groups, which consisted of wearing make-up, listening to positive music, and face coloring. Results showed that female students who had put make-up on received higher grades compared to those who did not. In addition, these students outperformed students with positive mood only and students who were engaged in a control activity. These findings underline the necessity of adopting a multidimensional approach to learning and memory and attest to the importance of studying further the interaction between physical self-esteem and cosmetics in cognition

An open innovation approach to co-produce scientific knowledge: an examination of citizen science in the healthcare ecosystem

Purpose The article applies the citizen science phenomenon - i.e. lay people involvement in research endeavours aimed at pushing forward scientific knowledge - to healthcare. Attention is paid to initiatives intended to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic as an illustrative case to exemplify the contribution of citizen science to system-wide innovation in healthcare. Design/methodology/approach A mixed methodology consisting of three sequential steps was developed. Firstly, a realist literature review was carried out to contextualize citizen science to healthcare. Then, an account of successfully completed large-scale, online citizen science projects dealing with healthcare and medicine has been conducted in order to obtain preliminary information about distinguishing features of citizen science in healthcare. Thirdly, a broad search of citizen science initiatives targeted to tackling the COVID-19 pandemic has been performed. A comparative case study approach has been undertaken to examine the attributes of such projects and to unravel their peculiarities. Findings Citizen science enacts the development of a lively healthcare ecosystem, which takes its nourishment from the voluntary contribution of lay people. Citizen scientists play different roles in accomplishing citizen science initiatives, ranging from data collectors to data analysts. Alongside enabling big data management, citizen science contributes to lay people's education and empowerment, soliciting their active involvement in service co-production and value co-creation. Practical implications Citizen science is still underexplored in healthcare. Even though further evidence is needed to emphasize the value of lay people's involvement in scientific research applied to healthcare, citizen science is expected to revolutionize the way innovation is pursued and achieved in the healthcare ecosystem. Engaging lay people in a co-creating partnership with expert scientist can help us to address unprecedented health-related challenges and to shape the future of healthcare. Tailored health policy and management interventions are required to empower lay people and to stimulate their active engagement in value co-creation. Originality/value Citizen science relies on the wisdom of the crowd to address major issues faced by healthcare organizations. The article comes up with a state of the art investigation of citizen science in healthcare, shedding light on its attributes and envisioning avenues for further development

The Relation between Self-Reported Empathy and Motor Identification with Imagined Agents

Background:In a previous study, we found that when required to imagine another person performing an action, participants reported a higher correspondence between their own handedness and the hand used by the imagined person when the agent was seen from the back compared to when the agent was seen from the front. This result was explained as evidence of a greater involvement of motor areas in the back-view perspective, possibly indicating a greater proneness to put oneself in the agent's shoes in such a condition. In turn, the proneness to put oneself in another's shoes could also be considered as a cue of greater identification with the other, that is a form of empathy. If this is the case, the proportion of lateral matches vs mismatches should be different for subjects with high and low self-reported empathy. In the present study, we aimed at testing this hypothesis.Methodology/Principal Findings:Participants were required to imagine a person performing a single manual action in a back view and to indicate the hand used by the imagined person during movement execution. Consistent with our hypothesis, the proportion of matching between the handedness of participants and the handedness of agents imagined was higher for participants scoring high in a self-report measure of empathy. Importantly, this relationship was specific for females.Conclusions/Significance:At least for females, our data seem to corroborate the idea of a link between self-reported empathy and motor identification with imagined agents. This sex-specific result is consistent with neuroimaging studies indicating a stronger involvement of action representations during emotional and empathic processing in females than in males. In sum, our findings underline the possibility of employing behavioral research as a test-bed for theories deriving from functional studies suggesting a link between empathic processing and the activation of motor-related areas

Adaptation to Complex Pictures: Exposure to Emotional Valence Induces Assimilative Aftereffects

Aftereffects have been documented for a variety of perceptual categories spanning from body gender to facial emotion, thus becoming an important tool in the study of high-level vision and its neural bases. We examined whether the perceived valence of a complex scene is subject to aftereffects, by observing the participants’ evaluation of the valence of a test picture preceded by a different picture. For this study, we employed an adaptation paradigm with positive and negative images used as adapters, and positive, negative, and neutral images used as tests. Our results show that adaptation to complex emotional pictures induces assimilative aftereffects: participants judged neutral tests more positively following positive adapters and more negatively following negative adapters. This depended on the prolonged adaptation phase (10 s), as the results of a second experiment, in which adapters lasted for 500 ms, did not show aftereffects. In addition, the results show that assimilative aftereffects of negative and positive adapters also manifested themselves on non-neutral (negative and positive) targets, providing evidence that the global emotional content of complex pictures is suitable to induce assimilative aftereffects

Psychological Factors and Consumer Behavior During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic is far more than a health crisis: it has unpredictably changed our whole way of life. As suggested by the analysis of economic data on sales, this dramatic scenario has also heavily impacted individuals’ spending levels. To better understand these changes, the present study focused on consumer behavior and its psychological antecedents. Previous studies found that crises differently affect people’s willingness to buy necessities products (i.e., utilitarian shopping) and non-necessities products (i.e., hedonic shopping). Therefore, in examining whether changes in spending levels were associated with changes in consumer behavior, we adopted a fine-grained approach disentangling between necessities and non-necessities. We administered an online survey to 3833 participants (age range 18–64) during the first peak period of the contagion in Italy. Consumer behavior toward necessities was predicted by anxiety and COVID-related fear, whereas consumer behavior toward non-necessities was predicted by depression. Furthermore, consumer behavior toward necessities and non-necessities was predicted by personality traits, perceived economic stability, and self-justifications for purchasing. The present study extended our understanding of consumer behavior changes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results could be helpful to develop marketing strategies that consider psychological factors to meet actual consumers’ needs and feelings