COMPAR-EU Final Newsletter

Dear readers,

it is a pleasure for our consortium to publish this last COMPAR-EU newsletter. Our project
is coming to its completion at the end of this year.

We take this opportunity to thank you once again for your interest and contributions. We
also want to highlight that all our achievements have been possible only because of the
great collaborative efforts from all partners over the last five years. We have both enjoyed
and learned from our work and complementary expertise. Congratulations and thank you
very much to everyone!

In this issue, we cover the relevant activities carried out during the last semester. The
main focus was on dissemination efforts: the research conference which presented the
project’s results and opportunities for sustainability; the advocacy conference held with
patients and policymakers to create awareness about self-management; and
presentations about the platform on different occasions.

We hope the project results will reach our different audiences and offer new opportunities
to improve self-management.

We especially recommend that you read the article covering a spin-off that emerged
from COMPAR-EU: Self-management Europe (SME). SME will allow us to keep the
platform updated or generate new resources helpful for various target groups. We look
forward to continuing our contact with you through this initiative.

In this context, instead of saying goodbye, we’ll see you soon! We wish you a merry
Christmas and a great new year!

On behalf of the COMPAR-EU project,

Carola Orrego
Project coordinator

Read the full newsletter here.

20. December 2022

Effectiveness of eHealth Self-management Interventions in Patients With Heart Failure: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Heart failure (HF) is a common clinical syndrome associated with substantial morbidity, a heavy economic burden, and high risk of readmission. eHealth self-management interventions may be an effective way to improve HF clinical outcomes. Objective: The aim of this study was to systematically review the evidence for the effectiveness of eHealth self-management in patients with HF.

15. December 2022

Continuing support for self-management after the end of the project

This information is highly valuable for patients, professionals, guideline developers, researchers, and policymakers as well as for industries developing IT support systems, pharma and insurance companies. All this information has been reported in an interactive platform which includes decision aids for patients and providers, evidence to decision frameworks, summary of findings tables and recommendations per disease. Lay person summaries are included in the platform.

We are aware that our results can make an important contribution in bridging the gap between knowledge and practice, summarising what is currently available and developing further knowledge and support to the field.

Our mission: help stakeholder’s decision-making

To continue the COMPARE-EU efforts after the project termination in December, we launched Self-Management Europe. This is the not-for-profit European Research and Innovation Centre conceived of as a partnership of organisations working on patient empowerment and self-management. The project is a joint venture initiative led by the Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (Nivel), OptiMedis, the Avedis Donabedian Research Institute (FAD and the European Patients’ Forum (EPF). It works in collaboration as an affiliate member of the other COMPAR-EU partners.

Its mission is to help stakeholder’s decision-making by providing, creating, and disseminating new and innovative knowledge for better self-management and patient empowerment with a special emphasis on chronic conditions. Its main objectives are:

Providing updated (scientific) knowledge on patient empowerment and self-management.
Promoting research and generating new knowledge on how to improve self-management with special emphasis on vulnerable people and chronic conditions.

We aim to build capacity for research, policy and interventions through workshops, webinars, seminars, and knowledge exchange and help to set strategic directions in European research and policy on self-management, empowerment and chronic disease and create opportunities for innovation and transfer of self-management research for the mHealth application.

Self-Management Europe Alerts

Our first initiative has been to produce Self-Management Europe Alerts providing practical recommendations on how to implement practices that enhance self-management and patient empowerment. So far, four have been published and are being translated to different EU languages to enhance their impact. We intend to create a network with other interested organisations to continue enhancing self-management and patient empowerment knowledge and implementation.

If you are interested, please contact us at contact@self-management.eu

Rosa Suñol

Rosa Suñol is President of the Board of Trustees at FAD. She holds the Donabedian Research Chair in Quality at the Faculty of Medicine and is also Deputy Editor at the International Journal for Quality in Health Care since 1991. Rosa Sunol has published more than 80 articles and books and has over 25 years of experience in health and social care research.

13. December 2022