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Dear authors, reviewers and colleagues,

We hope that all of you are staying safe and healthy in these difficult times. Our thoughts go out to all of you, especially all the health, care and support workers who are at the forefront of this battle and to all affected by this disease, in one way or another.

Many countries are battling to get the disease under control, and we appreciate the added burden this brings personally and to systems.

This global crisis reinforces our conviction that health, care and wellbeing are major global issues and that trusted relationships, systems resilience and effective, evidence-based and integrated decision making are highly needed.

We are committed to continue to publish high-quality research, policy and practice on integrated care through the International Journal of Integrated Care. Now, more than ever, are decisionmakers and professionals in need of guidance on how to shape resilient, coordinated and effective systems. Therefore, the Journal stays fully operational and we are lucky to have an excellent team working in the background, who support us in these efforts. However, we also realise that for many of you, publishing and reviewing articles for IJIC in the coming months will not be a priority and we fully understand that. Please concentrate on what is most important at the moment, and we are looking forward to your future contributions.

We wanted to let you know that we, the editors-in-chief, are all working from home and are willing and available to work closely with you, though virtually for now, as always.

If you have any questions or need support, please let us know.

We wish you and your beloved ones all the best in these challenging times.

Yours Sincerely,

Nick Goodwin, Robin Miller, Viktoria Stein
Editors-in-Chief IJIC

COVID-19: A Message from the Editors of the International Journal of Integrated Care

We hope that all of you are staying safe and healthy in these difficult times.

Our thoughts go out to all of you, especially all the health, care and support workers who are at the forefront of this COVID-19 pandemic and to all affected by this disease, in one way or another.

Many countries are battling to get the disease under control, and we appreciate the added burden this brings personally and to systems. This global crisis reinforces our conviction that health, care and wellbeing are major global issues and that trusted relationships, systems resilience and effective, evidence-based and integrated decision making are highly needed.

As our personal and working lives adjust to the new reality, we can confirm that the International Journal of Integrated Care will continue to operate normally. We wanted to let you know that we, the Editors-in-Chief, are all working from home and are willing and available to work closely with you, though virtually for now, as always.

However, we do realise that our authors, reviewers and fellow editors will have different priorities at this time which will naturally impact on publication processes. In the light of recent requests from prospective authors, we can confirm we have revised the submission deadline for the Special Collection on People-Driven Care to 30th June 2020. Please read the full Call for Papers for more details.

We remain committed to publishing high-quality research, policy and practice. Now, more than ever, our decision-makers and professionals are in need of evidence and guidance on how to shape resilient, coordinated and effective care systems.

If you have any questions or need support, please let us know.

We wish you and your beloved ones all the best in these challenging times.

Yours sincerely,

Nick Goodwin, Robin Miller, Viktoria Stein
Editors-in-Chief IJIC

IJIC is delighted to welcome to its Editorial Board Cara English and Donata Kurpas.

Dr. Cara English has more than 20 years of experience in the fields of psychology, counseling, and integrated behavioral health care. She enjoys working in academic, clinical, and policy roles. She is the CEO of Cummings Graduate Institute for Behavioral Health Studies where she serves as a faculty member, advisor, and chairs Doctor of Behavioral Health culminating projects. Cara co-founded Terra’s Place in 2016 to address the mental health service gap for pregnant and postpartum mothers and families. She co-led an integration pilot at Willow Birth Center which has now become a leading model for Women’s Health Integration in the Arizona community, and continues to serve there as an integrated Doctor of Behavioral Health. Cara is passionate about empowering mothers and their partners to make informed decisions about their care that are in line with family, cultural, and spiritual values.

Prof Donata Kurpas is a full-time senior researcher and lecturer at the Department of Family Medicine, Wroclaw Medical University (WMU), engaged in undergraduate and postgraduate training of medical students and family physicians. She has been national coordinator of European Projects and has also led several research projects at the Wroclaw Medical University. She is author and co-author of over 600 scientific publications and book chapters, especially in the field of family medicine and primary care, public health, geriatrics, and management of chronic diseases. She has received the Minister of Health First Degree Award for scientific achievements. She is chair of the International Advisory Board of the European Rural and Isolated Practitioners and an active member of many scientific societies, e.g. the European Academy of Teachers in General Practice, the Polish Society of Family Medicine, the Polish Society of Psychiatry.

Regardless of the purpose of the activity, commitment and passion direct Donata. She has participated in many multi-center projects in Poland and abroad (including the Fulbright Foundation scholarship), is a reviewer of the National Centre for Research and Development, a member of the Interdisciplinary Team for the Research Infrastructure Support Program (Ministry of Science and Higher Education in Poland), an expert of the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development and the European Commission. In addition, she is the scholar of: EURACT (conference scholarship for young doctors), SOROS Foundation, Foundation for Polish Science, Foundation of E. Niedzwirski. She has been awarded several times for academic and didactic work.

Donata is also a member of the IFIC Board.

IJIC Special Collection Call for Papers

Integrated care has often been characterised as a people-centred and community-oriented approach. Yet the field of integrated care – in policy, practice and research – has not fully embraced or understood how people-centred care can and should be built into integrated care strategies and programmes. Moreover, knowledge and evidence of the potential impact of people-centred care on integrated care is lacking.

People-centred care seeks to build the skills and resources that individuals and communities need to be articulate and empowered users of health services. It is an approach that seeks to support people to make effective decisions about their own health to achieve the outcomes that matter most to them. It enables communities to become active in partnering with care services and contributing to relevant research, education and healthy public policy. Special attention is often given to tackling inequalities by engaging and supporting the voices of marginalised, vulnerable and disengaged people.

This special collection will bring together papers that focus on empowering and engaging people and, specifically, on the role and impact of co-production and co-design in integrated care.

Submission deadline: 31st March 2020

Expected publication launch of special collection: 1st October 2020

Please read the full Call for Papers for more details.