Research topics

HEALTH LITERACY, TECHNOLOGY ACCEPTANCE AND PEER SUPPORT IN THE MANAGEMENT OF CHILDREN’S TYPE 1 DIABETES

Continuous care of children living with type 1 diabetes – due to lack of insulin - is essential. This requires continuous and accurate disease management, which is the responsibility of parents especially in the case of children of preschool and elementary school age.

One of the object of our research is to examine the criteria on which parents choose treatment technology for measuring blood sugar (glucometer or sensor) and insulin administration (pen or insulin pump). We examine how acquired knowledge, family circumstances, psychological factors and opinions of different referent groups affect the chosen technology - on satisfaction with it and the change of it.

In the case of preschool and elementary school age children, dealing with Type I diabetes, is also a solvable problem the management of the disease meanwhile they are staying in the school. That’s why is necessary also for the teacher to take part of the disease management. Because of this aspect the other object in our research is to examine, how teacher relate to childhood diabetes, how much they know about the disease and its treatment, as well as what attitude they show in relation to helping parents in the healthcare activity.

For our research we use self-developed and widely used validated questionnaires, which are supplemented with focus group discussions and semi-structured in-depth interviews. In addition with preliminary and post-testing, we also investigate the effect of a diabetes education specifically for teachers on their knowledge, attitude and confidence in diabetes care.

THE ROLE OF HEALTH BEHAVIOR IN THERAPEUTIC EFFECTIVENESS OF TYPE 2 DIABETES

As type 2 diabetes is a complex metabolic disorder, the successful treatment is mainly based on the patient's self-management skills therefore, drug/insulin treatment is only one element of the complex therapy of diabetes. Examining diabetes knowledge, adherence and self-management skills of diabetic patients are both an important part of a comprehensive, patient-centered treatment management.

Our research topic tries to understand these areas by examining the following questions: What difficulties do type 2 diabetics encounter on a daily basis, including when using the healthcare system? What prevents them from understanding and incorporating medical recommendations into their lifestyle? Where does the therapy get stuck from the patient's side and what are the most important individual psychological and behavioral characteristics behind this multifactorial phenomenon? Based on these questions, we research patients' adherence to therapy, disease knowledge and level of functional health understanding, as well as psychological characteristics related to disease management. Our goal is to explore the complex and multidimensional phenomena of health behavior, the results of which can help to understand the changing relationship and communication needs of diabetes patients at a deeper level, and can also be important elements in the development of personalized therapeutic procedures.

PATIENT SATISFACTION AND LOYALTY IN THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

In today’s health care, the quality of the service is getting more and more important, of which the defining element is satisfaction. This is the result of a comparison-evaluation process, during which the patient compares the services they received, while using the service, with the expected or standard performance – their experiences with their expectations.

The possible high level of satisfaction that develops in this way can lead to patient loyalty, which can be of decisive importance in terms of the longer-term doctor-patient relationship, trust and compliance, as well as the effectiveness of prevention activities.

In the course of our research, we use interviews and questionnaires in several segments of the health care system (general practitioner, gynecological and dental care) to assess the factors affecting patient satisfaction and the reasons for possible doctor changes. In addition to the effects of the physical environment and waiting time, we examine the role of the elements of doctor-patient communication, and the effects of certain social factors on satisfaction. We are also looking for an answer to how communication transformed by the spread of telemedicine affects the factors that create satisfaction.