Cargando…
Implementation of the World Health Organization Age-Friendly Principles: A Case Study from Portugal
Demographic ageing has emphasized the need to adapt current healthcare systems to the comorbidity profile of older adults. In 2004, the World Health Organization (WHO) developed the Age-Friendly Principles, but the approach to their implementation in the health systems still remains uncertain. This...
Autores principales: | , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2023
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10419270/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37569072 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20156532 |
_version_ | 1785088477514170368 |
---|---|
author | Tavares, Jéssica Santinha, Gonçalo Rocha, Nelson Pacheco |
author_facet | Tavares, Jéssica Santinha, Gonçalo Rocha, Nelson Pacheco |
author_sort | Tavares, Jéssica |
collection | PubMed |
description | Demographic ageing has emphasized the need to adapt current healthcare systems to the comorbidity profile of older adults. In 2004, the World Health Organization (WHO) developed the Age-Friendly Principles, but the approach to their implementation in the health systems still remains uncertain. This article intends to address this gap by assessing how the Principles are perceived and implemented in the Portuguese National Health Service (NHS), where this topic has recently been placed on the political agenda. A questionnaire survey was administered to primary care directors and hospital administrators, covering a total of 173 health units. Findings show that most respondents are unaware of the WHO Principles (71%) and do not identify the current organizational structure of care as a problem for the provision of care (80%). However, the implementation of the WHO Principles is lower than desired, especially regarding professional training and the management system (50% and 28% of the criteria are implemented, respectively). These criteria defined by the WHO are implemented in a reduced number of health units, as opposed to the physical environment where implementation is more widespread (64%). Accordingly, further dissemination and implementation support in the national territory are needed in order to improve the health outcomes of older adults and increase the performance of health units. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10419270 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-104192702023-08-12 Implementation of the World Health Organization Age-Friendly Principles: A Case Study from Portugal Tavares, Jéssica Santinha, Gonçalo Rocha, Nelson Pacheco Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Demographic ageing has emphasized the need to adapt current healthcare systems to the comorbidity profile of older adults. In 2004, the World Health Organization (WHO) developed the Age-Friendly Principles, but the approach to their implementation in the health systems still remains uncertain. This article intends to address this gap by assessing how the Principles are perceived and implemented in the Portuguese National Health Service (NHS), where this topic has recently been placed on the political agenda. A questionnaire survey was administered to primary care directors and hospital administrators, covering a total of 173 health units. Findings show that most respondents are unaware of the WHO Principles (71%) and do not identify the current organizational structure of care as a problem for the provision of care (80%). However, the implementation of the WHO Principles is lower than desired, especially regarding professional training and the management system (50% and 28% of the criteria are implemented, respectively). These criteria defined by the WHO are implemented in a reduced number of health units, as opposed to the physical environment where implementation is more widespread (64%). Accordingly, further dissemination and implementation support in the national territory are needed in order to improve the health outcomes of older adults and increase the performance of health units. MDPI 2023-08-05 /pmc/articles/PMC10419270/ /pubmed/37569072 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20156532 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Tavares, Jéssica Santinha, Gonçalo Rocha, Nelson Pacheco Implementation of the World Health Organization Age-Friendly Principles: A Case Study from Portugal |
title | Implementation of the World Health Organization Age-Friendly Principles: A Case Study from Portugal |
title_full | Implementation of the World Health Organization Age-Friendly Principles: A Case Study from Portugal |
title_fullStr | Implementation of the World Health Organization Age-Friendly Principles: A Case Study from Portugal |
title_full_unstemmed | Implementation of the World Health Organization Age-Friendly Principles: A Case Study from Portugal |
title_short | Implementation of the World Health Organization Age-Friendly Principles: A Case Study from Portugal |
title_sort | implementation of the world health organization age-friendly principles: a case study from portugal |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10419270/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37569072 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20156532 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT tavaresjessica implementationoftheworldhealthorganizationagefriendlyprinciplesacasestudyfromportugal AT santinhagoncalo implementationoftheworldhealthorganizationagefriendlyprinciplesacasestudyfromportugal AT rochanelsonpacheco implementationoftheworldhealthorganizationagefriendlyprinciplesacasestudyfromportugal |