Self-Help Strengthens the Swiss Healthcare System

The evaluation results clearly highlight the success of the project as well as the great potential of self-help for the Swiss healthcare system and for sustainable care for patients and their relatives.

There are around 2,700 self-help groups in Switzerland that play a central role in the healthcare system. They support affected individuals and their families, strengthen health literacy and self-efficacy, promote psychological well-being, and enable social participation. Thus, self-help groups complement inpatient and outpatient treatment as well as aftercare and form an important pillar in patient-centred healthcare.

Incorporating self-help more into the healthcare pathway

With the project 'Health Literacy Thanks to Self-Help-Friendly Hospitals', the Swiss Self-Help Foundation aimed to better integrate self-help into the Swiss healthcare system. The Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts accompanied the project on behalf of Health Promotion Switzerland from 2021 to April 2025 as part of an evaluation, the results of which will feed into the model 'Self-Help Friendliness in Hospitals and Health Institutions' in 2026. This has been a recognised quality improvement measure QVM in the field of 'Patient Centredness' by H+, the umbrella organisation of Swiss hospitals, within the context of the federal quality contract according to the Health Insurance Law (Article 58a) since the beginning of 2025. The transformation phase of the 'Self-Help Friendliness in Hospitals' model is also financially supported and accompanied by the Swiss Federal Quality Commission EQK between 2024 and 2026.

Additional room for self-help action is necessary

The key evaluation results of the project 'Self-Help Friendly Hospital' were presented to a large audience at a specialist event at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts on 27 August 2025. The project evaluation commissioned by Health Promotion Switzerland confirms that self-help can be effective along the entire care pathway: from inpatient care, in outpatient treatment to aftercare.

Based on the evaluation results, Health Promotion Switzerland developed a policy brief that highlights the challenges health institutions face when they want to promote community self-help. It also contains concrete recommendations for decision-makers from the federal and cantonal levels, hospitals, outpatient health facilities, and healthcare professionals regarding existing and new approaches.

Cooperation and involvement of self-help are worthwhile

Key to effective collaboration between hospitals and self-help groups is the consistent implementation of the 'Self-Help Friendliness' model along the entire care pathway. One of the many recommendations of the policy brief by Health Promotion Switzerland advocates the inclusion of self-help and self-help groups in education and training, clinical committees, guidelines, as well as in trialogues and public events. The model strengthens interprofessional collaboration and makes a central contribution to integrated care. By integrating the self-help group into clinical processes, a mutual gain in competence is also created.

For comprehensive and sustainable collaboration between self-help and the healthcare system to succeed, in addition to a legal anchoring of self-help, sufficient resources must be provided by the federal and, if possible, all cantons, and a stable mix of financing from cantons, hospitals, foundations, companies, non-profit organisations, and private individuals must be secured.