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Community participation in primary care: what does it mean 'in practice'?
1School of Population Health, The University of Auckland, PB 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand. p.neuwelt@auckland.ac.nz
Journal of Primary Health Care
|March 2, 2012
Summary
Community involvement in primary health care (PHC) is a complex relationship-building process. Engaging communities as partners with general practices and primary health organisations (PHOs) is key to improving health equity and ensuring responsive services.
Area of Science:
- Health Services Research
- Public Health Policy
- Community Engagement
Background:
- New Zealand's 2001 Primary Health Care Strategy mandates community involvement in primary health organisations (PHOs).
- The policy's impact on general practices remained unclear.
- This study investigated the purpose and process of community involvement post-reform.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the purpose and process of involving communities in primary health care.
- To understand stakeholder perspectives on community participation.
- To develop and pilot a framework for community engagement.
Main Methods:
- A three-part qualitative study.
- Key informant interviews with 42 stakeholders (policymakers, funders, practitioners, community representatives).
- Framework development through consultation (n=26) and pilot testing in four PHOs.
Main Results:
- Community participation views varied significantly among stakeholders.
- It is a complex, long-term relationship-building process, distinct from consumer feedback.
- Trust-building and information-sharing fostered comfortable care seeking and service adaptation.
Conclusions:
- Community engagement transforms 'community' from a care setting to a partnership.
- Citizens, especially from disadvantaged communities, are partners in improving health equity.
- Responsive services are achieved through collaboration between communities, general practices, and PHOs.
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