Health information for hard-to-reach target groups: A qualitative needs assessment

Reaching socially disadvantaged families and older people with health information can be challenging. A needs assessment was conducted to learn more about their health-related needs and preferences and derive recommendations for health information.

Focus groups were conducted with socially disadvantaged families, older people and suitable disseminators, like counsellors from various types of counselling centres or welfare facilities (81 participants), and analysed using content analysis.

Socially disadvantaged and hard-to-reach people want to understand health problems, become active in dealing with them themselves, and be involved in medical decision-making. Health information should consider the challenging everyday lives, the limited time available and the short attention span of socially disadvantaged families. There is a preference for short texts and videos. Older people may favour more comprehensive print products for complex topics. Matching photos and illustrations are vital to attract attention. Health information is preferably received via personal contact. Furthermore, online services and social media channels are popular.

Some recommendations can be helpful for all target groups of health information, like more illustrations. Others are more specific to the groups investigated and require conceptual groundwork and greater resources, for example, a specific service for disseminators.

Hard-to-reach target groups want to understand their health issues, and be proactive and involved in decision-making. Personal contact is of utmost importance. Disseminators play a crucial role and need information they can customize for their clients.