Enhancing patient participation among older and migrant cancer patients through eHealth

Active patient participation in healthcare might be difficult to achieve for, for instance, older cancer patients and older Turkish-Dutch and Moroccan-Dutch cancer patients with low Dutch language proficiency. Older patients are at higher risk of suboptimal information processing, while older migrant patients generally experience an additional language barrier.
For enhancing patient participation among older cancer patients and older Turkish-Dutch and Moroccan-Dutch cancer patients with low Dutch language proficiency, eHealth interventions (such as decision support tools and multilingual eHealth tools) can be implemented. These eHealth interventions can support information processing and bridge language barriers, thereby enhancing patient participation. However, there is relatively little insight in how such eHealth interventions can be made suitable for older and migrant cancer patients.
How can eHealth interventions be optimized to enhance patient participation in older cancer patients and older Turkish-Dutch and Moroccan-Dutch cancer patients with low Dutch language proficiency? This question is central to the current dissertation. The studies in this dissertation looked into how decision support tools can be optimized for older cancer patients, and into how an oncological eHealth module can be systematically developed for older Turkish-Dutch and Moroccan-Dutch cancer patients.
In general, the results showed that information processing, and ultimately patient participation, in older patients can be enhanced by incorporating audiovisual information in decision support tools. For older migrant cancer patients, patient participation can be supported by introducing a multilingual eHealth tool, such as the oncological module Conversation Starter.