Today, Patient Therapeutic Education (PTE) is emerging as a new medical model, essential in the management of chronic psychological or somatic diseases. Such practice puts the patient at the center of care so that he can be an actor of his health. It involves listening attentively to the patient’s needs, both on the inconveniences directly related to the symptoms and on the impact of the disease on the patient’s quality of life. Indeed, we know that a chronic disease can have repercussions on many psycho-social aspects such as work, sleep and diet, which are sometimes more disabling for the person than the symptom itself. Thus, helping a patient improve his or her quality of life can promote therapeutic efficiency and better adherence to care. This is why therapeutic education is practiced as a team, that is to say with doctors and nurses but also psychologists, dieticians, occupational therapists, etc. All intervene alongside the patient to enhance his resources and allow him to be healthier in his head, in his body and with his entourage.
At the same time, we now know how our environment plays a role in the emergence and multiplication of chronic diseases. Air and water pollution, junk food, endocrine disruptors, but also social relations, stress at work, physical activity, are all factors involved in the mutation and expression of our genes and then on the intensity of the symptoms.
We now understand how knowledge of these triggering and aggravating factors must be integrated into public policy as well as patient care pathways. Caregivers must be interested in the quality of life of patients in a comprehensive management approach but also because it directly influences the expression of the symptom. It is both a mediator and a moderator.
For this reason, there are more and more alternative medicines such as mindfulness meditation, acupuncture or hypnosis in hospitals. Associations complement each other by offering meetings between patients, adapted sports activities and cooking workshops for example. Despite this, these initiatives are still not widespread, and those who are aware of these factors and possible solutions are often the most educated and well-connected people. Considering preventive policy and integrative medicine is therefore a major issue in the problem of chronic disease.
Angèle PILLOT, Rebecca VINESSE, Wei XU