The 28th edition of the EHMA Annual Conference was held on June 5-7, 2023, in Rome, Italy.  The Conference is co-hosted by the European Health Management Association (EHMA) and our member, ALTEMS - Graduate School of Health Economics and Management, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore.

The theme of EHMA 2023 is "Health Management: sustainable solutions for complex systems." The three-day program looked at opportunities, best practices and innovations for continuously evolving health systems. EHMA2023 motivates conversation on complicated issues and encourages participants to propose creative ideas for resilient and sustainable health systems.

The Conference brought together all stakeholders in the health management ecosystem, including managers and leaders in the field of health care, managers of hospitals, researchers, academics, and legislators. Bringing extensive knowledge and expertise to the discussion of the most critical health management challenges.

In this vibrant context, Caterina Bosio from AFFIRMO’s partners EngageMinds HUB, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore presented the project to the audience, focusing on its innovative and groundbreaking approach.

Her intervention addressed How to make engagement accessible in an equitable and cross-cultural way, considering social and cultural differences?

Developing equitable and culturally inclusive digital empowerment interventions implies addressing cultural beliefs and practices behind patients’ health behaviours. Using the case study of the AFFIRMO project, an EU-funded project under the European Union′s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, this study discusses lessons learned in the transcultural development and adaptation of a digital patient empowerment initiative for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF).

The participatory research process allowed a culturally inclusive adaptation of the selected materials. Across cultures, some features were optimized (i.e., content simplification to make it easier for patients to understand the materials and adaptation of the epidemiological data and drug names reported based on the health guidelines of each country). There were also cultural-specific adaptations related to the actual organization of healthcare services (i.e., the presence/absence of psychological services).

This evidence claims an enhanced cross-cultural sensitivity when developing empowering digital tools, particularly where different healthcare systems are concerned. Considering the different countries' cultural, organisational, and political peculiarities is warranted when vulnerable populations, such as patients with AF, are concerned.

Click here to discover the sessions