Aims and Scope

Health Care Education in Practice is an Italian academic journal published two times a year (May and November) with the aim of expanding and disseminating an educational culture in the health care settings.

As is well known, in the last half-century several social, economic and cultural changes, together with scientific discoveries, have profoundly changed the nature of diseases: on the one hand, the overcoming of viral and bacteriological infections and the increase in life expectancy (with the consequent increase in the number of patients suffering from chronic degenerative diseases); on the other hand, the recognition and integration by health and social systems of various psychological, psychiatric and social sufferings. The last fifty years have also seen a change in the nature of the relationship between people and their health, and between patients and their doctors: more and more chronically ill patients, aware and informed about their conditions and their prospects, are demanding to be treated as people rather than as cases of disease or disorder. In the future, it should be possible not only to diagnose a patient and decide on a therapy (pharmaceutical, clinical or surgical), but also to rehabilitate and educate the patient, thus enabling him or her to achieve a good quality of life, understood as physical well-being, reconstruction of identity and participation in the community.

This proposal is conceived within a critical emancipatory approach to education. This approach, derived from critical pedagogy theory and, before that, from the critical theory of the Frankfurt School, calls on pedagogists and educators to become ethical agents of emancipation, focusing their attention on all oppressed people who have neither the means to understand their status of oppression nor the resources to free themselves. Remembering, ideally, the democratic medicine movement of Giulio Maccacaro, this journal would work to counter a paternalistic view of medicine and help patients become more aware of their rights and duties as citizens before their status as ill persons. On the other hand, this journal would counter the rising violence against healthcare workers by promoting a culture of mutual respect between patients and professionals, recognizing the hard work carried out daily by professionals and the often-silenced suffering of patients.

Its first objective is therefore to collect different educational experiences, in practice and research, from all those pedagogists and other social and health professionals who in their daily work interact with people suffering from a health problem (diseases non-communicable, psychiatric disorder, disability, neuropsychiatric disorder, neurodegenerative deficit, addiction, eating disorder, and so on ...). Professionals who have understood the essential role of education in taking care for a suffering person; so, articles or experiences from professional educators (both health and social), pedagogists, doctors, nurses or other types of social workers are therefore welcome. The journal also aims to collect empirical research and theoretical reflections on the training of health professionals, both at university and in the continuing medicine education. Medical education, in all its variation, is, indeed, another important differentiating factor for the wellbeing of patients and the professional too. Finally, the journal aims to stay in touch with the political, economic and public debate on health and illness, working to define new ways for people to be safer, health and well.

The final objective of JHCEP is to create a new possible confrontation between the pedagogical perspective and health practices in the care of chronic diseases and disorders: educational practices and competences should become a topic of discussion in academia and in social or health services, and our journal hopes to make a significant contribution to this goal. JHCEP aims to promote the exchange and implementation of good practices from a wide range of professionals, and to enable editors and professionals to work together for a gradual expansion of the pedagogical knowledge on health education, therapeutic education, rehabilitation practices, as on health professional training experiences and practices.

Above all, the editors hope that this journal will contribute to the dissemination of a new perspective on the care of patients as individuals who need to be respected and empowered as human beings, as taught by Don Milani and Paulo Freire. Additionally, it aims to highlight the role of health or social professionals as helping workers who, every day, face suffering and pain, striving not to let these challenges overpower their identity or their capacity for compassion.

Topics of interest

The main topic of JHCEP is pedagogical perspective and educational good practices and researches in the contest of illness, disability or mental health. More specifically:

• mental health (depression, psychosis and schizophrenia, eating disorders, bipolar disorder, etc);
• addiction (drug addiction, gambling addiction, smoke and alcohol addiction);
• chronic disease and illness (diabetes, heart disease, chronic renal failure, liver failure and cirrhosis, organ transplantation, cancer, etc.);
• neurodegenerative disorders (Parkinson, Alzheimer, SLA, etc.);
• neuropsychiatry (autism and developmental psychosis, disorders of psychological development, learning and speech disorders, child depression, mental health, behavioural, emotional and social functioning disorders, attention deficit /hyperactivity disorder, etc);
• physical, cognitive and sensitive disability (mental delay, deafness, blindness, silence, motor deficit, etc.).

Other topics are life-long learning and training in the health professional degree courses or ECM; last, problems and obstacles interposing to the educational practices.

Open access

The Journal provides immediate open access to its contents on the principle, shared by the University of Padua, that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. All the contribute published in JHCEinP is distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence (Creative Commons by Attribution Non-Commercial No-Derivatives 4.0 International licence).

Peer review process

The peer review process is based on the principle of double-blind peer review, using reviewers who are experts in educational disciplines and other experts in related disciplines. The Editorial and Scientific Board is bound by current legislation on defamation, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The journal has developed a specific strategy to ensure that the material submitted to the journal remains confidential during the review process and that peer reviews are fair, impartial and timely. Reviewers will be selected to ensure that they have no competing interests in the review process. Authors are required to declare that they have no conflicts of interest that could have influenced their results, conclusions or interpretations, and to declare any funders of the research or project from which the article is derived. For more information see: https://jhce.padovauniversitypress.it/ethic-code

Publication charges

There is no submission or publication fee.

Article types

HCEP accepts manuscripts/proposals for the following categories:

• Scientific Articles
• Practical experiences and educational projects
• Synopses of degree course theses
• Book recensions

For more information about the journal article’s format and citation style, seehttps://jhce.padovauniversitypress.it/authors.

Language

The Journal is open to contributions coming from Italian and foreign academic or both experts and professionals working in the health care services. JHCEP accepts contributions both in the Italian and English language, with the request of a bilingual abstract.