Introduction: Learning is essential for sustainable employability. However, various factors make work-related learning more difficult for certain groups of workers, who are consequently at a disadvantage in the labour market. In the long term, that in turn can have adverse health implications and can make those groups vulnerable. With a view to encouraging workers to continue learning, the Netherlands has a policy on work-related learning, which forms part of the 'Vitality Package'.Aim: A Health Impact Assessment with equity focus (HIAef) was undertaken to determine whether the policy on work-related learning affected certain groups of workers and their health in different ways, and whether the differences were avoidable.Methods: The HIAef method involved the standard phases: screening, scoping, appraisal and recommendations. Equity was the core principle in this method. Data were collected by means of both literature searches (e.g., Scopus, Medline) and interviews with experts and stakeholders (e.g., expertise regarding work, training and/or health).Results: The HIAef identified the following groups as potentially vulnerable in the field of work-related learning: the chronically sick, older people, less educated people, flexi-workers/the self-employed and lay carers (e.g., thresholds to learning). Published literature indicates that work-related learning may have a positive influence on health through (work-related) factors such as pay, employability, longer employment rate and training-participation. According to experts and stakeholders, work-related learning policy could be adapted to take more account of vulnerable groups through alignment with their particular needs, such as early support, informal learning and e-learning.Conclusion: With a view to reducing avoidable inequalities in work-related learning, it is recommended that early, low-threshold, accessible opportunities are made available to identified vulnerable groups. Making such opportunities available may have a positive effect on (continued) participation in the labour market and thus on the health of the relevant groups.
Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic created the need to use digital health resources (DR), as they sometimes were the only option to receive healthcare or social interaction. The aim of this research is to provide insight into the experiences during the lockdown of older people using DR for health in general and the points of improvement they see. A qualitative study was carried out using semistructured interviews with older persons by telephone. A total of 10 older adults participated, with a median age of 78 years, the majority having a chronic disease. The most important themes for motivation to use health-related DR were ‘urgency’ and ‘usefulness’. Experiences with DR were related to the themes ‘human contact’ and ‘communication’, which were experienced by respondents as facilitated by DR, and ‘time and energy’, which was two-sided. Additionally, most older persons worried about accessibility of DR by all older persons and the support needed. In conclusion, older persons are convinced of the urgency and the usefulness of digital technology for health and healthcare. Time and energy constraints can be alleviated by using DR on the one hand, but this can also be challenging if older persons are less digitally skilled or lack digital literacy. Good and sustained human support is therefore mandatory
The traditional paternalistic approach in health care is increasingly developing towards a patient-centered care (PCC) approach. However, not all patients are able to take advantage of the positive effects of PCC. Inadequate health literacy (HL) is an important limiting factor in the ability of patients to take on an active role and exchange information with their health care provider effectively. A provenly effective approach to improvement of provider-patient interaction and health outcomes is the use of health-related questionnaires. The aim of the research project described within this thesis was to adapt the most frequently-used questionnaire in Dutch physical therapy practice and add information and communication technology to it. A Dutch and Turkish version of the tool called Talking Touch Screen Questionnaire (TTSQ) was developed and evaluated on both usability and validity aspects. The current prototype of the tool does not yet fully solve the problems native and minority patients with low (health) literacy have with completing the adapted questionnaire. Big challenges in future development and testing the TTSQ are the recruitment of vulnerable members of the hard-to-reach native and minority target populations and finding research methods that suit the abilities and needs of these participants. This is expected to be a very challenging, labor- and time-consuming process. On the other hand, having a usable, valid and reliable TTSQ may well save a lot of time and money in both research and clinical practice in the future.
