SymPCa is an interdisciplinary European conference on Symptoms in Primary Care which is held every two years and has been held four times: SymPCa 2015 in Denmark, SymPCa 2017 in the Netherlands, SymPCa 2019 in the UK, and SymPCa 2023 in Norway.
The conferences include keynote lectures and presentations of current research speaking to the topics of each conference. Being postponed because of the corona pandemic, this fourth conference is held in 2023. The previous conferences were titled:
- 2015: Symptom Research in Primary Care: Current status and future agenda
- 2017: Symptoms in Primary Care: The meaning of symptoms
- 2019: Symposium on SYMptoms in Primary CAre
- 2023: Developments in symptom research in primary care
Why symptoms?
Physical symptoms represent the main reason for consultation for many patients in primary care. Symptoms occur at the borderline of health and illness (when bodily sensations become indicators of possible disease) and are mediated by knowledge regimes and socio-cultural patterns. They test practitioners' clinical skills and require judgements about whether to investigate the patient or to reassure. They challenge patients regarding interpretation of symptoms, how to react to and how to communicate them. Symptoms occur within personal and societal contexts, both as new
symptoms which may or may not represent disease and as persistent symptoms which last beyond, or in disproportion to, any disease processes. Overall, processes of care-seeking, medical decisions, diagnostic processes and treatment/care all involve attention to symptoms.
Why this conference?
SymPCa 2025 brings together researchers from clinical and social sciences to learn about and discuss novel dimensions of thinking about symptoms, their potentials, management and treatment in primary care and in everyday life. We aim to bring together researchers from various disciplines to present state-of-the-art research on symptoms and to encourage discussions that go beyond, broaden and challenge our current knowledge.
Organizing and scientific committee
The organizing committee
Dorte Ejg Jarbøl, MD, PhD, Professor (chair)
Mette Bech Risør (Anthropology), PhD, Professor
Camilla Hoffmann (Anthropology), PhD, Associate Professor
Heidi Gram, Secretariat/administration
The Scientific committee
Marianne Rosendal, MD, PhD, Senior Researcher - Chair (DK)
Camilla Hoffmann (Anthropology), PhD, Associate Professor (DK)
Mette Bech Risør, MSc(Anthropology), PhD, Professor (DK)
Dorte Ejg Jarbøl, MD, PhD, Professor (DK)
djarbol@health.sdu.dk
Tina Carstensen, psychologist, PhD, Associate Professor (DK)
May-Lill Johansen, GP, PhD, Associate Professor (NO)
Chris Burton, GP, PhD, Professor (UK)
Monica Greco, BA, MA, PhD, Professor (UK)
Sue Ziebland, PhD, Professor (UK)
