BACKGROUND The Cancer Genetics Service for Wales (CGSW) was established in 1998 as an all-Wales service for individuals with concerns about their family history of cancer. CGSW offers a range of services such as risk assessment, genetic counseling, and genetic testing. Individuals referred to cancer genetics services often have unmet information and support needs, and they value access to pract...

The idea of public participation GIS involves the use of GIS tools to help laypcople understand the spatial consequences of proposed projects, evaluate alternatives, and create new solutions. The widening use of information networks creates opportunities for making GIS a widely accessible decision-making tool, bypassing the constraints of location and time. This paper presents a prototype softw...

Public and patient involvement in social and health care has proceeded in many civil societies. Depending on the legislations on national and community levels, citizens and patients have a greater say in shaping social and health care. In Germany, the patient involvement by self-help organizations at the macro level (national level and level of federal states) has significantly developed over t...

PURPOSE Although concordance by race and sex in physician-patient relationships has been associated with patient ratings of better care, mechanisms through which concordance leads to better outcomes remains unknown. This investigation examined (1) whether patients' perceptions of similarity to their physicians predicted their ratings of quality of care and (2) whether perceived similarity was i...

Powering all the electronic devices surrounding us in our daily life is still and will remain a challenge. Therefore "Future and Emerging Technologies Proactive (FET)", part of the European Commission, General Directorate Information Society and Media, will launch a new Proactive Initiative in the call FP7-ICT-2009-5. This Proactive Initiative searches for new and disruptive ideas for energy ha...

Participation of the diaspora in the Partnership The Joint Africa-EU Strategic Partnership1 offers a window of opportunity for the African diaspora in Europe to enrich the ongoing Africa-EU political dialogue. In this regard, the diaspora’s proactive participation is indispensable. The partnership also provides feasible entry points for diaspora organisations to participate actively in the oper...

BACKGROUND Improving the quality of care for patients living with a chronic illness is a key policy goal. Alongside systems to ensure care is delivered according to evidence-based guidelines, an essential component of these new models of care is the facilitation of self-management. However, changes to the way professionals deliver care is complex, and it is important to understand the key drive...

BACKGROUND The objective of this exploratory study was to identify patient-related predictors of communication preferences in patients with chronic low back pain for various dimensions of patient-physician communication (patient participation and orientation, effective and open communication, emotionally supportive communication, communication about personal circumstances). METHODS Eleven reh...

Governments today recognise that to deliver effective public policy they need to enhance citizen and community involvement in the policy making process, particularly amongst the socially disadvantaged and hard to reach. For the average EU citizen let alone a newly arrived immigrant, locating, accessing and using upto-date information and tools can often be very difficult. Puzzled by Policy (PBP...

In recent years, pharmacovigilance has undergone some major changes. First, the patient's active role in identifying and describing adverse drug reactions (ADRs) has gained recognition. Second, pharmacovigilance has increasingly incorporated information and communications technology (ICT). Patients can now upload their own reports of ADRs online. Data on intensive medication monitoring are now ...