In October 2024, the last 4 interviews were conducted with patients who visit the dialysis center in the south-west of Slovakia.

The interviews took place in the patients’ homes and brought us valuable knowledge of people with kidney diseases with regard to their experiences with the onset and course of the disease, dialysis and the health care provided to them in Slovakia. The interviews are currently being analyzed and will be used together with audiovisual recordings as part of a module on the website http://www.rozhovoryozdravi.sk, which covers the experiences of patients in various areas of common and rare diseases, mental problems or specific physiological conditions.

Interviews were conducted all over Slovakia by our collegues psychotherapist and researcher Ivana Skoumalová and the final interviews took place under the guidance of Ján Hlodák together with the help of our new PhD student Ľubica Pamulová.

From November 7th to 8th 2024, an online international autumn meeting is taking place within the international network of the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children study.

This international meeting offers 167 participants from 47 countries the opportunity to get to know each other better, share knowledge, ideas and inspiration in the field of health and health-related behavior of schoolchildren.

Several researchers meet here in focus groups where participants can discuss the general work strategy, action plan and details to be added or modified in the HBSC research. The main objective of this meeting is to bring network members together to discuss other HBSC research, international reports, forthcoming publications and preparations for the HBSC 2025/26 protocol.

Aurel completed his second visit to Linköping University as part of his activities under the FORTE visiting researcher grant. During his visit from November 2nd to 8th, he attended meetings with members of the EHealth Strategic Research Group and discussed current and future collaboration opportunities in the development and implementation of digital health tools for Slovak patient populations.

He also attended the public PhD defense of Dr. Andreas Blomqvist, which focused on physical activity in people with heart failure and how novel digital tools could enhance assessment and intervention practices in this field.

Prof. Andrea Madarasova Geckova was invited for a lecture on the phenomenon of second victims at the 37th World Congress of Internal Medicine in Prague (October 30th – November 2nd 2024).

During her lacture she mentioned: “They choose medicine because they want to witness the miracle of healing, they want to contribute to it. Unfortunately, there are days when things don’t go as planned, mistakes happen, the patient’s condition worsens instead of getting better, they have to communicate bad news, and they have to deal with emotionally demanding situations. Supporting the resilience of health workers, psychological safety in the workplace as well as peer support are areas where psychology can make a significant contribution.”

From 9 till 11 October 2024 our colleague Peter Kolarčik visited the annual congress organised by Czech and Slovak associations of allergology and clinical immunology at the invitation of doc. MUDr. Norbert Lukán, PhD. He used this opportunity to broaden his professional network with new contacts in the field of allergy research and the quality of life of allergic patients. He also presented a poster introducing his work collaboration with Doc. MUDr. Norbert Lukán, PhD., and his team focused on assessing respiratory symptoms in allergic patients using a special scale (UAD-9), and its variation was adjusted for smartphone administration.

From 3 till 6 September 2024, our colleagues Andrea Madarasová Gecková, Daniela Fiľakovská, Daniela Husárová, Jaroslava Kopčáková, Ján Hlodák, Jana Plavnická and Zuzana Dankulincová met with other prominent researchers in the field of health psychology on the 38th annual conference of European Health Psychology Society in Cascais, Portugal.

They were invited to share their knowledge via poster presentations on latest findings from HBSC, RomaReach, RIVER and Care4Youth studies as well as our experience from using DIPEx modules in university education.

The goal of the project is to build an excellent research team of the University of Pavel Jozef Šafárik in Košice for the use of information and communication technologies in the prevention and management of chronic diseases. The project activities are scheduled to start in January 2025 and end in June 2026.

The approval of the application by the Research and Innovation Authority of the Slovak Republic makes us even more pleased that our project succeeded in the competition of 778 projects. In category R3, in the field of natural and medical sciences, 86 projects competed with our project, while only 23 were approved, and our project was the only project of LF UPJŠ approved within the mentioned category and research area.

The project is financed by the European Union from the funds of the Recovery and Resilience Plan of the Slovak Republic.

On the 27th of June 2024 our colleague, Veronika Pačutová, have been awarded a double PhD degree at the University of Groningen during a defence and PhD ceremony held between the University of Groningen and Pavol Jozef Safarik University in Kosice. The thesis entitled How did COVID-19 impact health care workers’ health and well-being? was defended in the presence of the College of Deans and the PhD Examining Committee. More information about defence ceremony might be found here.

On the 27th of June 2024 our colleague, Aurel Zelko, have been awarded a PhD degree at the University of Groningen during a defence and PhD ceremony held at the University of Groningen . The thesis entitled Intradialytic exercise in haemodialysis patients: applicability and effects on muscle function was defended in the presence of the College of Deans and the PhD Examining Committee. More information about defence ceremony might be found here.

We are pleased to annouce two upcoming PhD defences at Rijksuniversiteit Groningen next week on 27 June 2024. Stay tuned!!!

How did COVID-19 impact health care workers’ health and well-being?

PhD ceremony:	Ms V. (Veronika) Pacutová
When:	June 27, 2024 12.45 p.m.
Where:	Academy building RUG

Intradialytic exercise in haemodialysis patients: applicability and effects on muscle function

PhD ceremony:	Mr A. (Aurel) Zelko
When:	June 27, 2024 4.15 p.m.
Where:	Academy building RUG