A primary care lifestyle programme suitable for socioeconomically vulnerable groups - an observational study

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Promotion
• Primary Health Care

Background:

• Primary health care (PHC) is crucial for chronic disease prevention.
• Non-pharmacological interventions often struggle to reach socioeconomically vulnerable populations.
• Equitable engagement of all socioeconomic groups in health promotion is a key challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate if a PHC health promotion program equally reaches and engages socioeconomically vulnerable groups compared to higher socioeconomic groups.
• To assess lifestyle changes and engagement levels stratified by socioeconomic vulnerability.

Main Methods:

• A health promotion program was implemented in a Swedish PHC setting.
• Participants (aged 18-79) completed a health questionnaire and received a health dialogue with a nurse.
• Socioeconomic vulnerability was assessed based on education, employment, ethnicity, and living situation.

Main Results:

• The program reached 3691 participants, with 57% attending a one-year follow-up.
• Improved biological markers were observed across all vulnerability groups.
• Socioeconomically vulnerable groups showed significantly higher odds for smoking and stress reduction compared to non-vulnerable groups.

Conclusions:

• The PHC lifestyle intervention program successfully reached and engaged socioeconomically vulnerable groups.
• Participants from vulnerable groups achieved comparable lifestyle improvements after one year.
• This demonstrates the potential of PHC programs to promote health equitably across socioeconomic gradients.