[Patient, self-help and public participation in committees: an exploratory overview at federal level]

Patient, self-help and public participation is an approach to making decision-making processes more transparent, increasing acceptance, enabling health policy measures to be more tailored to needs, and strengthening trust in decisions. The WHO recommends regular and meaningful participation. An earlier study showed that committee participation was one of the more frequently used methods of participation in Austria. Based on research conducted on committees of the Ministry of Health, an investigation was carried out to determine which committees at federal level and at the national public health institute included representatives of organised public groups and/or ombudsmen representing population groups (e. g., patients, people with disabilities). Of the 105 committees examined, 44 were found to have membership from organised public bodies and/or ombudsmen. The question of meaningful participation cannot be limited to participation in a single committee, but must be seen in the overall context of the respective opinion-forming and decision-making process.