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Background: In order to preserve health and thus social participation, it is important for older people to make health-related decisions, such as those regarding the use of a secondary prevention service like cancer screening. National and international studies show that various predictors determine cancer screening participation. The aim of this study is to determine the cancer screening utilization of older people in a structurally weak region., Methods: In 2021, a cross-sectional study in each of two urban and rural communities in Saxony-Anhalt surveyed individuals aged 55 years and older about determinants, reasons, and barriers to preventive service use (n = 954). Binary logistic regression analysis is used to analyze determinants of cancer screening use., Results: Three quarters of the study population (76.6%) self-reported participating in a cancer screening service at least once. The multivariable analyses demonstrate factors that influence the utilization of cancer screening. Age, partial knowledge on cancer screening, cancer screening as a benefit offered by a statutory health insurances' bonus program, experience with cancer in the immediate environment, thoughts about one's own health, and the feeling of security that participation gives are factors that significantly influence the use of cancer screening. Descriptively, the physician's recommendation is the strongest factor for participation., Conclusion: The analyses show that cancer screenings are generally well received by older people in Saxony-Anhalt, but participation in them is not related to health literacy. In keeping with the National Cancer Plan, older people should generally be supported in making an informed decision, for example, through target-group-specific physician education., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: Statutory skin cancer screening (gHKS) can counteract severe courses of various types of skin cancer. The example of malignant melanoma shows that screening is important for older adults in view of the average age of onset of this disease: 62 (women) and 68 years (men). For Saxony-Anhalt (ST), as a state particularly affected by demographic change, little gHKS data are available regarding its usage., Objectives: For the study, gHKS participation rates for persons aged 55 and older are presented for ST in comparison to the rest of Germany. Reasons for and barriers to participation from those eligible as well as possible fields of action are shown., Materials and Methods: For the target group, outpatient billing data from the Central Institute for Statutory Health Insurance Physicians in Germany (Zi) on gHKS from 2011-2020 are cross-sectionally and longitudinally analysed. Guideline-based telephone interviews with 18 residents using qualitative content analysis according to Kuckartz serve to identify reasons for and barriers to the use of gHKS., Results: The gHKS was rarely and irregularly used in ST and other federal states of Germany from 2011-2020; the annual utilisation rate was about 8.0% (national average: 8.4%). Between 2011 and 2020, 50% of eligible people aged 55 years and older did not participate in the gHKS. The highest utilisation rates were among men aged 70-79 years. In addition to district-specific differences, which indicate possible gaps in care, information deficits appear to be the main reason for low participation., Conclusion: The low utilisation of gHKS, partly due to a lack of information among those entitled to it, requires target group-specific information services., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

The COVID-19 pandemic coincided with an already long-standing crisis in health systems around the world characterized by economic pressure and increasing staff shortage. "Crisis" became a global metaphor to convey collective experiences of the COVID-19 threat. Little is known on how crisis metaphors influence thought and speech on crisis management and the challenging staff situation of intensive care unit (ICU) clinicians in leadership positions and how they act. Therefore, we were interested in (1) which metaphorical concepts ICU clinicians in leadership use to express experiences and strategies in dealing with coinciding crises, (2) how these change over time, and (3) how metaphors in speech reveal self-images of crisis management. We conducted a systematic metaphor analysis focusing on data from three participants of a qualitative interview study with twenty-four healthcare professionals in ICUs in Germany. The participants were interviewed at two time points between April 2020 and March 2021. We identified and reconstructed metaphorical concepts of three interviewees (ICU clinicians in leadership) with regard to the pandemic management, and developed a typology based on the dimensions of mood, modus operandi, location, and scope. The typology consists of eight self-images (protagonists) for the crisis management of ICU clinicians in leadership, such as the figure of the soldier ("to unite everyone behind this flag"), the distributor ("sometimes it is a crazy patchwork [ wahnsinniges Gestückel ]") or the critic ("we are the fool for everything"). They embody different qualities of a leader and refer to intra- and inter-role conflicts within multiple crisis conditions. Metaphor analysis reveals different self-images of ICU leadership clinicians in relation to crisis management. This illustrates that thinking and perceptions of crisis management may strongly differ between and within leaders and may change over the course of crises. Our findings highlight the need both to improve knowledge on challenges associated with leadership in crises and preparedness, and to support clinicians in their leadership by recognizing and addressing differences and changes in leaders' self-image., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Piel, Hörold, Brandstetter, Drewitz, Hrudey, Schmitt and Apfelbacher.)

In the federal state of Germany, Saxony-Anhalt, colorectal cancer is the second most frequent cause of death among cancer patients. In order to identify cancer precursors early, colorectal cancer screenings are essential. In this context, health information contributes to informing individuals and imparting them with necessary knowledge to make a decision about (non-)utilization of preventive services. Numerous public health stakeholders (e.g., statutory health insurances) provide health information. This study aimed to evaluate the quality of web-based health information offered by public health stakeholders in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. A systematic evaluation was used. A search was performed using pre-defined eligibility criteria and search terms. Two independent reviewers assessed the search results based on seven main categories (60 items) developed by the study team in line with the "Guideline Evidence-based Health Information". In total, 37 materials from 16 different stakeholders were included and yielded a "mediocre quality" (median = 69%). The materials had only partially fulfilled the requirements of national recommendations for evidence-based health information. Access to digital health information regarding colon cancer screening was unsatisfactory, especially for individuals with auditory or visual impairments, due to use of inappropriate communication technologies. Further efforts are required to improve digital health information about colorectal cancer screening., Competing Interests: S.M. received funding within the framework of the EVA64 study, the nationwide uniform scientific evaluation of model projects according to §64b of the Social Security Code V (§64b SGB V) until 31 March 2020. This study is funded by a consortium made up of 94 statutory health insurances and their associations.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers face particular challenges: as contact restrictions prevented face-to-face formats, both data collection and qualitative interpretation work (data analysis) had to be carried out in virtual space. In this article, we outline a digital option for strategically conducting joint interpretation work in qualitative health research in times of "physical distancing", which also provides inspiration for research practice in the post-pandemic future., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier GmbH.)

Individuals with chronic conditions have been faced with many additional challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Individual health literacy (HL) as the ability to access, understand, evaluate, and apply pandemic-related information has thus become ever more important in these populations. The purpose of this study was to develop and content-validate a comprehensive HL survey instrument for people with asthma based on an integrated framework, and on previous surveys and other instruments for use in the general population and vulnerable groups. Beside HL, assumed determinants, mediators, and health outcomes were embraced in the framework. A mixed-method design was used. A comprehensive examination of the available literature yielded an initial pool of 398 single items within 20 categories. Based on content validity indices (CVI) of expert ratings (n = 11) and the content analysis of cognitive interviews with participants (n = 9), the item pool was reduced, and individual items/scales refined or modified. The instrument showed appropriate comprehensibility (98.0%), was judged relevant, and had an acceptable CVI at scale level (S-CVI/Ave = 0.91). The final version comprises 14 categories measured by 38 questions consisting of 116 single items. In terms of content, the instrument appears a valid representation of behavioural and psychosocial constructs pertaining to a broad HL understanding and relevant to individuals with asthma during the COVID-19 pandemic. Regular monitoring of these behavioural and psychosocial constructs during the course of the pandemic can help identify needs as well as changes during the course of the pandemic, which is particularly important in chronic disease populations.

Background: In Germany, the proportion of people with chronic diseases and multimorbidity is increasing. To counteract the emergence and worsening of age-related conditions, there is a need for preventive care structures and measures. The preventive services that are financed by statutory health insurance (SHI; eg, vaccinations, cancer screening) are only used by part of the German population. There are no current findings about the utilization of these services by older adults in the eastern German federal state of Saxony-Anhalt, which is particularly strongly affected by demographic change., Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the actual utilization and determinants of, reasons for, and barriers to utilization of preventive services financed by the SHI in Saxony-Anhalt in the 55-plus age group., Methods: In this study, a convergent mixed methods design is used. The actual use of preventive services will be shown by means of (1) a claims data analysis looking at data on statutory outpatient medical care from both the Central Research Institute of Ambulatory Health Care in Germany (Zi) and the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Dentists in Saxony-Anhalt (KZV LSA). The determinants, attitudes, and behaviors associated with use will be analyzed through (2) a cross-sectional survey as well as (3) qualitative data from semistructured interviews with residents of Saxony-Anhalt and from focus group discussions with physicians. (4) A stock take and systematic evaluation of digitally available informational material on colorectal cancer screening, by way of example, provides an insight into the information available as well as its quality. The conceptual framework of the study is the behavioral model of health services use by Andersen et al (last modified in 2014)., Results: (1) The Zi and KZV LSA are currently preparing the requested claims data. (2) The survey was carried out from April 2021 to June 2021 in 2 urban and 2 rural municipalities (encompassing a small town and surrounding area) in Saxony-Anhalt. In total, 3665 people were contacted, with a response rate of 25.84% (n=954). (3) For the semistructured interviews, 18 participants from the 4 different study regions were recruited in the same period. A total of 4 general practitioners and 3 medical specialists participated in 2 focus group discussions. (4) For the systematic evaluation of existing informational material on colorectal cancer screening, 37 different informational materials were identified on the websites of 16 health care actors., Conclusions: This study will provide current and reliable data on the use of preventive services in the 55-plus age group in Saxony-Anhalt. It will yield insights into the determinants, reasons, and barriers associated with their utilization. The results will reveal the potential for preventive measures and enable concrete recommendations for action for the target population of the study., Trial Registration: German Clinical Trials Register DRKS00024059; https://www.drks.de/drks_web/navigate.do?navigationId=trial.HTML&TRIAL_ID=DRKS00024059., International Registered Report Identifier (irrid): DERR1-10.2196/33512., (©Ilona Hrudey, Annemarie Minow, Svenja Walter, Stefanie March, Enno Swart, Christoph Stallmann. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (https://www.researchprotocols.org), 12.01.2022.)

Faced with the pandemic of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), healthcare professionals (HCPs) in intensive care units (ICU) adjusted their organizational, operational, and personal procedures to ensure care for COVID-19 patients. We used grounded theory approach to explore ICU HCPs' perspectives on professional action at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany from March to July 2020. The study aimed to examine implicit principles on negotiating social practice and interaction of ICU HCPs in an exceptional situation, which was characterized by a high level of changes. We conducted theme-guided qualitative telephone/virtual interviews with 39 ICU HCPs from ten German federal states. The data collection followed the principles of theoretical sampling. We adpoted grounded theory approach proposed by Charmaz and discussed using Lüscher's theoretical concept of ambivalence. The analysis revealed five interconnected categories about the ICU HCPs' negotiation of social practice and interaction at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. In this context, a complex field of ambivalence (key category) emerged between habits and routines of a pre-pandemic normality. Pragmatic restructuring processes were initiated, which quickly resulted in a new normality of a "daily routine of preparation". Dealing with ambivalence offers the potential for change.