Medical Delta Program ‘Owning your health’

Staff shortages in healthcare, rising healthcare costs, and an increase in the number of people needing care: these issues call for a shift in our thinking, where the focus is not only on expanding the healthcare supply but also on adjusting the demand for care. 'Health ownership' can play a role in this, with more control and responsibility from individuals—where possible and desirable—over their own health.

Although the term 'health ownership' may sound logical, it is certainly not a given for everyone. Often, people lack knowledge and experience in this area, lack a supportive network, or face daily urgent problems that divert attention away from their own health. This seems to be particularly true for individuals with a low socioeconomic position. 

Additionally, the existing healthcare system is demand-driven. The liberalization of the healthcare market did not lead to the desired increase in personal responsibility for one's own health; rather, it resulted in greater dependence of 'clients' on the 'services' of healthcare providers. Health seems to have increasingly become a market product rather than something that belongs to you and for which you would want to take care. 

The Medical Delta Program ‘Owning your health’ aims to investigate the management of health and, where possible and desirable, to place it back in the hands of the individual. The program seeks to understand, clarify, and strengthen the concept of health ownership across various life stages, social contexts, and in preventive, curative, and palliative care situations. 

An alternative approach: the involvement of artists and designers

With greater health ownership, it is expected that conscious healthy living will also increase. The individual demand for care may change according to a person's wishes and needs, ultimately leading to a positive individual and societal effect. 

The program encourages health experts, patients, policymakers, and healthcare providers to examine health ownership from various contexts and levels and to explore how and where it can be strengthened. In doing so, the program promotes awareness, motivation, and behavior change regarding health. 

By involving artists and designers, the program aims for a different way of thinking. Artists and designers can integrate visual and artistic communication into eHealth and remote care. Additionally, through the use of 'participatory art and design,' individuals become more aware of their health and learn how to manage their own influence on it.

Motivation and confidence in caring for one's own health

Greater health ownership can lead to increased motivation and more confidence in managing one’s own health. This has positive effects on dealing with life, death, illness, care provision, treatment choices, and health. It can result in more interest in prevention, better adherence to doctors' advice or treatment plans, and more shared decision-making between healthcare providers and patients, for example, in palliative care. 

The Medical Delta Program ‘Owning your health’ establishes research projects from various disciplines and involves artists in this process. It engages students from different relevant programs at university, hbo, and mbo levels in transdisciplinary pilot projects. To promote the implementation of health ownership, the program seeks collaboration with various social organizations and stakeholders in healthcare. 

Goals

The program aims to achieve the following goals:

• Understand and define what 'health ownership' means for whom, and investigate which term is most suitable for this concept.
• Map out the network that supports or temporarily takes over an individual's health ownership.
• Analyze the current and desired handling of health ownership from various user and care contexts.
• Raise awareness among individuals and stakeholders about health ownership and teach them how to manage it using practical tools and interventions.
• Increase support for health ownership and implement it within society, healthcare provision, the community of transdisciplinary research, and among the healthcare providers of the future

Contact

For more information or if you're interested in participating, please contact one of our innovation managers.