Mobile clinic approach towards hard-to-reach populations’ health in Roman suburban settings

Key messages

Mobile clinics can close the gap between health services and disadvantaged children and hard-to-reach populations. Outreach can be a mean of promotion, prevention and health services inclusion.

An Italian pilot study of a psycho-social intervention to support family caregivers' engagement in taking care of patients with complex care needs: the Engage-in-Caring project

BACKGROUND

The raising of disability and chronic illness burden among European population is calling for a new paradigm of care, focused on primary health care interventions. Engage-In-Caring is a novel multicomponent intervention clearly dedicated to improve family caregiver engagement in the care of patients with complex care needs, by supporting them to develop a stronger consciousness of their role, needs and skills.

METHOD

Engage-In-Caring intervention's efficacy and feasibility have been evaluated through a single arm pre-post observational pilot study settled in Rome. A qualitative phase, consisting of literature analysis of caregivers' unmet needs and a final revision from an experts' group, led to the structuration of the intervention, following the Caregiver Health Engagement Model (CHE-Model). Afterwards, a quantitative phase allowed understanding the feasibility of the intervention through Kruskal-Wallis test on a sample of 47 caregivers.

RESULTS

Results showed a reduction of the physical burden (Chi Squared = 6,483; p = .01) perceived by the caregivers and increase of the health literacy (Chi Squared = 3,560; p = .059) after the intervention.

CONCLUSIONS

Feasibility tests on caregivers of patients with complex care needs are promising: this pilot study suggests a first effectiveness evidence, particularly concerning aspects related to burden perception and improvements in health literacy. Randomised controlled trials on larger samples are needed.