Search results

Heatwaves and vulnerable populations

This applied research project aims to generate a better understanding of the effects of heatwaves on vulnerable population groups in the municipality of The Hague, and suggests ways in which the municipality can help such groups to cope with these heatwaves. The research was performed as a cooperation between The Hague University of Applied Sciences (THUAS), the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS, Erasmus University Rotterdam) and the International Centre for Frugal Innovation (ICFI, Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Universities). Heatwaves constitute an important yet often overlooked part of climate change and their impacts qualify as disasters. According to the World Disasters Report 2020, the three heatwaves affecting Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the UK in the summer of 2019 caused 3,453 deaths.1 2020 was a new record year for the Netherlands because it was the first time that a heatwave included five days in a row during which the temperature reached 35 degrees or more. In addition, 40 degrees was measured for the first time, and periods of tropical days and nights are generally getting longer. Most importantly, this trend is accelerating faster than the climate change models are predicting.2 In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic is compounding the effect of heatwaves, as vulnerable individuals may be reluctant to seek cool spaces out of fear of infection. Already in 2006, the Netherlands ranked near the top of the global disaster index due to the number of excess deaths that could be attributed to the heatwave. In the same year, the EU published the first climate strategy in which heat is recognised as a priority. In 2008, the Netherlands developed its first national heat plan.4 The municipality of The Hague has a municipal climate adaptation strategy and has developed a draft local heat plan in the summer of 2021, which was published in February 2022 . This research was not meant to be and was not set up as an evaluation of the current heat plan, which has not yet been activated. At the level of municipalities and cities, the concept of urban resilience is key. It refers to “the capacity of individuals, communities, institutions, businesses, and systems within a city to survive, adapt, and grow no matter what kinds of chronic stresses and acute shocks they experience”. Heatwaves clearly constitute acute shocks which are rapidly developing into chronic stresses. In turn, heatwaves also exacerbate the chronic stresses that are already there, i.e. existing chronic stresses also lead to greater impact of a heatwave. In other words, there are negative interaction effects. Addressing these effects requires overcoming the silo approach to urban governance, in which different municipal departments as well as other stakeholders (such as the Red Cross, housing corporations, tenants’ associations, care organisations, entrepreneurs etc.) each address different parts of the problem, rather than doing so in an integrated and inclusive manner. The dataset for this study is archived in DANS Easy: https://doi.org/10.17026/dans-xeb-h8uk

COVID-19 infodemic and digital health literacy in vulnerable populations: A scoping review

BackgroundPeople from lower and middle socioeconomic classes and vulnerable populations are among the worst affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, thus exacerbating disparities and the digital divide.ObjectiveTo draw a portrait of e-services as a digital approach to support digital health literacy in vulnerable populations amid the COVID-19 infodemic, and identify the barriers and facilitators for their implementation.MethodsA scoping review was performed to gather published literature with a broad range of study designs and grey literature without exclusions based on country of publication. A search was created in Medline (Ovid) in March 2021 and translated to Medline, PsycINFO, Scopus and CINAHL with Full Text (EBSCOhost). The combined literature search generated 819 manuscripts. To be included, manuscripts had to be written in English, and present information on digital intervention(s) (e.g. social media) used to enable or increase digital health literacy among vulnerable populations during the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g. older adults, Indigenous people living on reserve).ResultsFive articles were included in the study. Various digital health literacy-enabling e-services have been implemented in different vulnerable populations. Identified e-services aimed to increase disease knowledge, digital health literacy and social media usage, help in coping with changes in routines and practices, decrease fear and anxiety, increase digital knowledge and skills, decrease health literacy barriers and increase technology acceptance in specific groups. Many facilitators of digital health literacy-enabling e-services implementation were identified in expectant mothers and their families, older adults and people with low-income. Barriers such as low literacy limited to no knowledge about the viruses, medium of contamination, treatment options played an important role in distracting and believing in misinformation and disinformation. Poor health literacy was the only barrier found, which may hinder the understanding of individual health needs, illness processes and treatments for people with HIV/AIDS.ConclusionsThe literature on the topic is scarce, sparse and immature. We did not find any literature on digital health literacy in Indigenous people, though we targeted this vulnerable population. Although only a few papers were included, two types of health conditions were covered by the literature on digital health literacy-enabling e-services, namely chronic conditions and conditions that are new to the patients. Digital health literacy can help improve prevention and adherence to a healthy lifestyle, improve capacity building and enable users to take the best advantage of the options available, thus strengthening the patient’s involvement in health decisions and empowerment, and finally improving health outcomes. Therefore, there is an urgent need to pursue research on digital health literacy and develop digital platforms to help solve current and future COVID-19-related health needs.

Using Talking Mats to support conversations with communication vulnerable people

Background: Talking Mats is a framework developed to support communication with communication vulnerable people. Objective: The objective was twofold: to provide an overview of the objectives, target groups and settings for which Talking Mats has been used (Part 1), and an overview of empirical scientific knowledge on the use of Talking Mats (Part 2). Methods: In this scoping review scientific and grey literature was searched in PubMed, Cinahl, Psycinfo, Google, and Google Scholar. Articles that described characteristics of Talking Mats or its use were included. For Part 2, additional selection criteria were applied to focus on empirical scientific knowledge. Results: The search yielded 73 publications in Part 1, 12 of which were included in Part 2. Talking Mats was used for functional objectives (e.g. goal setting) and to improve communication and involvement. Part 2 showed that Talking Mats had positive influences on technical communication, effectiveness of conversations, and involvement and decision making in conversations. However, the level of research evidence is limited. Conclusions: Talking Mats can be used to support conversations between professionals and communication vulnerable people. More research is needed to study the views of people who are communication vulnerable and to study the effects of Talking Mats.

Interactive catalogue with good examples of mobility products for vulnerable groups, including an overview of success factors for mobility products / services to meet user needs of vulnerable groups

Customer Journey Mapping: How vulnerable-to-exclusion groups are coping with the digitalization of mobility.

To investigate the digital aspect of travel among vulnerable-to-exclusion groups, Customer Journey Mapping [CJM] was used to gain qualitative and quantitative in-depth knowledge of the experiences of elderly people, low-income citizens, wheelchair users, blind people and women. Due to COVID-19 the developed CJM method questioned participants about past trips over the phone or MS teams. This generated 36 interviews. Main outcomes: the elderly do not struggle with operating ticket machines or transport cards but are insecure about operating apps, finding information and rely on social ties. Low-income participants have good digital capabilities but suffer financial stress and prefer to pay cash. People in wheelchairs plan extensively in advance but receive limited support. Screen readers are crucial for blind people, and 69% of the women felt limited by safety; none of the men did.

The relevance of work-related learning for vulnerable groups.

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.