Better psychosocial care
The prevalence of chronic or long-lasting somatic diseases is rising. This is mainly due to earlier detection, better medical treatments and the ageing population, thus leading to an increasing number of people having to deal with long-term impaired health. Their health outcomes, quality of life, and participation in society is further strained in case of problems to adapt to their disease and declined health. This does not only put a burden on those confronted with health problems and their family, but also on health professionals.
Our research helps understand the complexity of adaptation processes. We use these insights for better psychosocial care. As such we aim to:
- optimise the uptake of evidence-based psychosocial interventions,
- optimise informed decision making and uptake of care by recognising the importance of own choice and personal values, and the role of informal caregivers in complex health care.
- improve the accessibility of interventions by designing new types of interventions utilising technological e-health or m-health solutions.
- strengthen the role of significant others and other care givers by integrating interpersonal factors and offering support in adaptation to informal care givers too.