Towards Sustainable Good Health and Well-being: The Role of Health Literacy

The purpose of this open access book is threefold. The first is to shed light on patient participation and health literacy for Good Health and Well-being, which is one of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. Health literacy is considered a prerequisite for patients to be able to participate in shared decisions on their own treatment (WHO,1998). Health literacy has received increased international attention: the concept is linked to person-centred health services, sustainable resource utilization, health-promoting and preventive health work, treatment of chronic diseases and social inequality (WHO, 2016). The second purpose is to provide health professionals and students with educational models for building health literacy for patients and relatives. This purpose is linked to Quality Education, one of the UN's sustainability goals. The third purpose is to present critical perspectives on the demand for sustainability in healthcare services. Both ethical dilemmas and philosophical reflections on patient participation, health literacy and sustainability are presented.  

The Norwegian definition of health literacy is as follows: “Health competence is a person's ability to understand, assess and apply health information to be able to take knowledge-based decisions related to one's own health. This applies to both decisions related to lifestyle choices, disease prevention measures, self-management of disease and use of the health and care service” (Helsedireektoratet, 2020). The sustainability goal is clearly outlined in this definition, although the organisational perspective on health literacy is lacking.   Patient participation leads to improved patient satisfaction and safety (Castro, Van Regenmortel, Vanhaecht, Sermeus, & Van Hecke, 2016; Collins, Britten, Ruusuvuori, & Thompson, 2007; Vahdat, Hamzehgardeshi, Hessam, & Hamzehgardeshi, 2014), efficient co-operation between patients and healthcare professionals, and enhanced management ofthe disease (Collins et al., 2007; Vahdat et al., 2014). Health literacy as well as patient participation are important aspects for sustainable development and good and effective healthcare services in the future.  

Torstein Hole is a Professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and is a Senior Consultant in cardiology at Ålesund Hospital, Møre og Romsdal Hospital Trust. His PhD thesis in 2003 was about Doppler echocardiographic evaluation of left ventricular function after acute myocardial infarction. He has extensive research experience from varied research areas. His present research fields are clinical and echocardiographic research in general cardiology and cardiooncology, quality of life research in heart failure, and palliative research. He also studies aspects of patient participation, and health literacy during critical and chronic disease from the perspectives of patients, next of kin, and health personnel. He is a member of the research network: Health Services during Times of Reform. Hole also supervises Master students and PhD students.

Marit Kvangarsnes is a Professor of Nursing and Pedagogy at the Department of Health Science in Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Ålesund and a Research Advisor for Helse Møre og Romsdal HF. She completed her PhD in 2005 on the national curricula in nursing education in Norway. She researches aspects of patient care, patient participation, and health literacy during critical and chronic disease from the perspectives of patients, next of kin, and health personnel. She also researches learning and professional qualification and has studied how students learn during practice periods in pre- and post-graduate nursing and medical education. Kvangarsnes leads the research network: Health Services during Times of Reform. Kvangarsnes supervises master students and PhD students. She has editorial experience across both journals and books. 

Bodil J Landstad is a Professor in Health Sciences at Mid-Sweden University and Professor in Nursing at Umeå University in Sweden. Her dissertation was completed in Rehabilitation Medicine at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. Her research interests are in the area of processes behind the inclusion of people who are either at risk of becoming marginalized or who are already marginalized (e.g., due to health, in working life, socially, as citizens, in public life, etc.). She also researches aspects of patient care, patient participation, and health literacy during critical and chronic disease from the perspectives of patients, next of kin, and health personnel. Currently, she is also working as a director of research, education and development at Region Jämtland Härjedalen, Sweden. Landstad supervises both Master students and PhD students. She has editorial experience from different journals and books.  

Elise Kvalsund Bårdsgjerde is an Associate Professor at the Department of Health Science in Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Ålesund. Her PhD project explored patient participation in the myocardial infarction pathway. She is a member of the research network Health services during times of reforms. Her research interests are patient participation and health literacy in clinical practice and in education for healthcare professionals. Her teaching relates to acute, chronic and critical illnesses and she has experience with simulation as a pedagogical method.  

Sandra Elizabeth Tippett-Spirtou is an Editor and Researcher for Publication Projects based at NTNU in Ålesund. She has over 30 years of experience in HE across the UK, Greece and France in both lecturing and senior management. Her current work concentrates on editing publications in Sustainability and SDGs, promoting the work carried out at NTNU in this field. In this regard, she has worked as the Internal Development Editor on Business Transitions: A Path to Sustainability (Springer 2023) and Marine Plastics: Innovative Solutions to Recycling Waste (Springer 2023). As an author, she has a range of publications, from a monograph for Macmillan French Catholicism: Church State and Society in a Changing Era (2017), co-author for Routledge A vos marques (1999), still used in second year university courses across the UK and several journals. Sandra was Head of Publications for the Panayotis and Effie Michelis Foundation in Athens, Greece, editing academic and scientific books and journals across disciplines in five different languages (1999–2006).