Study published: Outreach healthcare services for people experiencing exclusion
In a recently published literature review in The Lancet Public Health, researchers examined how outreach healthcare services can best support people experiencing social exclusion in high-income countries. The review synthesised findings from 31 studies, to identify the key factors that make outreach effective.
Addressing health inequities through outreach
Inclusion health focuses on reducing health and social inequalities for underserved populations, such as people experiencing homelessness, people who use drugs, sex workers, vulnerable migrants, and others who face significant barriers to care. Outreach healthcare services aim to overcome these barriers by bringing care directly to where people are.
Key components of effective outreach
The review found that successful outreach depends on several factors, including flexible and person-centred services, respectful and non-judgemental communication, staff expertise, and partnerships with relevant organisations. Meeting people’s immediate needs, offering holistic care, and ensuring continuity with the same staff were also highlighted as important for building trust and encouraging service engagement.
Integration and long-term impact
Docent Sophie Gaber.
– Outreach healthcare is most effective when it’s integrated with mainstream health and social care systems, says Docent Sophie Nadia Gaber, researcher at U-CARE and co-author of the study. By adapting services to align with people’s everyday lives and removing barriers to access, we can support more sustainable improvements in health for people experiencing social exclusion.
She explains that the methodology used in this review is novel in the field.
– To the best of our knowledge, this is the first realist review offering a comprehensive overview of how and why outreach works across socially excluded populations. Realist methodologies hold great promise for illuminating how multicomponent outreach healthcare services, and other types of interventions, can be optimised to meet the complex needs of these groups, Sophie Nadia Gaber explains.
Miro Anter
Link to the article
Read the paper ‘Outreach health-care services for people experiencing exclusion in high-income countries’. It is written by Luke Johnson, Sophie Nadia Gaber, Rebecca Langella, Eleanor Turner-Moss, Jeremy Weleff, Thomas Brothers, et al.