In 2003, the Danish National Board of Health (NBH) was approached by the Danish Arthritis Association (Gigforeningen). They wanted to test the programme CDSMP from Stanford University. At the same time a need had been identified for exploring the implications and possibilities of patient education, as one of the strategies in the national recommendations.
The National Board of Health decided to test CDSM, with a focus on suitability of implementation, recommendations for cultural changes and the response from Danish patients.
A pilot study was conducted in 2005-5, the conclusion was that the programme was suitable for a national dissemination in Denmark.
From 2006-2009, the Danish Committee for Health Education, in cooperation with the national Board of health, introduced the Danish version of CDSMP (lær at leve med kronisk sygdom) to 78 out of 98 municipalities.
The central tasks of KFS were:
- Education, supervision and certification of peer educators
- Support of operation in the municipalities
- National publicity
- National research studies of outcomes using randomised control trial and longitudinal studies
- Implementation of programmes to specific groups
National quality assurance and support of local quality assurance, e.g: Providing and operating web based evaluation tools that makes it simple to work with QA on a local basis within the municipalities as well as on a national basis.
KFS has also adopted the Chronic Pain Self- management programme for people with chronic pain conditions and New Beginnings- a programme for people with mental health problems.
The pain programme is implemented in 45 of 98 municipalities, and the outcomes are evaluated by Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark. New Beginnings was tested during 2012.
KFS has participated in creating a patient education programme targeting heart disease, lung disease and diabetes type 2. The first preliminary results have been positive. KFS teaches health care professionals about patient empowerment strategies and chronic disease, as well as supporting national and international partners in implementation.
With thanks to ENOPE (Patient Empowerment. Living with Chronic Disease)
Part of a series of short discussion topics on different aspects of self-management and patient empowerment written by ENOPE members for the 1st European conference on patient empowerment (ENOPE)