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Using outreach to involve the hard-to-reach in a health check: what difference does it make?
1NHS Lanarkshire, Room U59, Law House, Airdrie Road, Carluke, Lanarkshire ML8 5ER, UK. alansinclair@nhs.net
Public Health
|December 31, 2011
Summary
Outreach staff successfully engaged individuals for health screening by being persistent and timely. Many non-attenders are hard-to-contact, not unwilling, highlighting the need for tailored engagement strategies.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Health Services Research
- Preventive Medicine
Background:
- Coronary heart disease mortality is higher in Scotland than the European average.
- Primary prevention programs like Keep Well target risk factors in deprived communities.
- Lanarkshire's outreach team addressed non-attendance in 'hard-to-reach' groups for health screening.
Purpose of the Study:
- To understand the methods used by an outreach team to achieve health screening attendance among non-attenders.
- To explore the experiences of individuals initially failing to attend but later screened after outreach intervention.
Main Methods:
- Qualitative study involving semi-structured interviews with 30 non-attenders who were subsequently appointed.
- Content analysis of interview transcripts to identify key themes related to engagement and attendance.
Main Results:
- The 'hard-to-reach' population is better described as 'hard-to-contact' or 'hard-to-engage'.
- Outreach staff effectiveness stemmed from personal engagement and opportune timing of contact.
- Non-attenders were not universally opposed to screening but required outreach to attend.
Conclusions:
- Labeling all non-attenders as 'hard-to-reach' is a disservice; many are 'hard-to-contact' or 'hard-to-engage'.
- Outreach interventions are crucial for converting non-attenders into screeners.
- The cost-benefit analysis of intensive outreach is necessary to balance resource allocation with realized health benefits.
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