Person-Centered Research

We are mostly interested on how to centre healthcare on people.

We focus in three areas. First is understanding health and illness experiences and the doctor-patient relationship. The second is on how to provide better care for common health problems presenting in primary healthcare. The third is on health policies regarding the organization of care, management and training of healthcare professionals.

We perform systematic and scoping reviews to synthesize the current best evidence on our topics of interest. We also use a wide range of quantitative research designs (cluster-randomized trials, interrupted time-series, observational studies) and qualitative studies (grounded theory, phenomenological studies and case studies).

Projects

Improving equity in access to early diagnosis of cancer: implementation research in different healthcare systems of Latin America (EquityCancer-LA) https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/965226

Publications

Rodrigues D, Jasmins C, Ladeiras-Lopes R, Patrao L, Rodrigues EF. Personalized Digital Care Pathways Enable Enhanced Patient Management as Perceived by Health Care Professionals: Mixed-Methods Study. JMIR Human Factors. 2025 May 15;12(1):e68581.
Proença-Portugal M, Heleno B, Dias S, Gama A, Baptista S. General practitioners’ perceptions on decision aids in healthcare: a qualitative study in Portugal. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making. 2025 June 2;25(1):202.
Pires-Vieira B, Perelman J, Santos M, Heleno B. Unveiling the process behind quality indicator selection in Portuguese primary healthcare - a qualitative study. BMC Prim Care. 2025 Nov 25;26(1):378.
Maria ARJ, Basílio N. Vulnerable Groups in Primary Health Care: Brief Report of a Project Implementation in Lisbon. Portuguese Journal of Public Health [Internet]. 2025 Feb 27 [cited 2025 June 22]; Available from: https://doi.org/10.1159/000543927
Haugaard AK, Saude Conde R, J Maria AR, Vithal Yergolkar A, Jørgensen KJ, Heleno B. Immunotherapy for advanced and recurrent malignant pleural mesothelioma. Cochrane Lung Cancer Group, editor. Cochrane Database Syst Rev [Internet]. 2024 Sept 18 [cited 2024 Oct 7];2024(9). Available from: http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/14651858.CD014720
Gil Conde M, Costa I, Silvério Serra S, Ramos RC, Ribeiro C, Broeiro-Goncalves P, et al. Strategies for research capacity building by family physicians in primary healthcare: a scoping review protocol. BMJ Open. 2024 Feb;14(2):e077632.
Fonseca M, Marvão P, Rosado-Pinto P, Rendas A, Heleno B. Promoting clinical reasoning in undergraduate Family Medicine curricula through concept mapping: a qualitative approach. Adv in Health Sci Educ [Internet]. 2024 June 24 [cited 2024 June 27]; Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-024-10353-z
Alves J, Dias CV, Perelman J, Gonçalves I, Moiane I, Morgado V. Behavioral incentives on pay-for-performance schemes in primary health care: a scoping review. European Journal of Public Health. 2024 Nov 1;34(Supplement_3):ckae144.1644.
Voss T, Krag M, Martiny F, Heleno B, Jørgensen KJ, Brandt Brodersen J. Quantification of overdiagnosis in randomised trials of cancer screening: an overview and re-analysis of systematic reviews. Cancer Epidemiol. 2023 Mar 22;84:102352.
Moita CF, Marau G, Corte-Real S, Dantas A. Adherence to European guidelines for the use of acetylsalicylic acid in primary health care. Rev Port Cardiol. 2023 Jan 9;S0870-2551(23)00050-1.