Peer-reviewed article
Population-oriented health promotion and disease prevention interventions in primary healthcare: a scoping review of reviews.
Eriksson L, Olsson K, Hasson H, Bergström A, Costea VA et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This is a scoping review of reviews that maps population-oriented health promotion and disease prevention interventions delivered through primary healthcare globally. The review synthesized 310 reviews containing 2,426 articles, finding that interventions most commonly targeted cardiovascular disease, diabetes, perinatal and child health, sexual and reproductive health, cancer, and mental health. Most interventions were delivered by general practitioners in primary care clinics using counselling, education, and screening components, primarily targeting adults.
Key points
- 310 reviews containing 2,426 articles were included in the analysis
- Most interventions were provided in the Americas (n=974) and European Region (n=596)
- Five most common intervention target areas: Cardiovascular disease/diabetes, Perinatal and child health, Sexual and reproductive health, Cancer, and Mental health
- Primary intervention components were Counselling/Education, Screening, and Referral/Invitation
- Most interventions were delivered by General Practitioners in Primary Care Clinics, primarily to adult populations
Limitations
This scoping review of reviews focuses on population-oriented interventions broadly and does not isolate or specifically evaluate outcomes for children. While perinatal and child health is mentioned as one intervention area, the review does not provide specific evidence about effectiveness of interventions for child well-being, child-specific outcomes, or the proportion of included studies that focused on children.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Primary healthcare is located close to the population and is key to providing health promotion and disease prevention interventions, which are important strategies to achieve universal health coverage. Population-oriented interventions provided by primary healthcare have been reported as effective, but research has not presented a global overview of their characteristics yet. Therefore, the purpose of this scoping review of reviews is to map population-oriented health promotion and disease prevention interventions within primary healthcare. METHODS: Four databases (MEDLINE, Web of Science, PsycInfo, and CINAHL) were searched for various types of reviews (systematic reviews, scoping reviews, realist reviews, rapid reviews, realist synthesis, narrative reviews, critical reviews, and other types of reviews if they provided enough information about a systematic approach) published in English from inception to 2022. Reviews were included and data extracted if their results sections reported on articles meeting our inclusion criteria about participants, concept, context, and type of evidence source. The analysis entailed summarising extracted data for some items while items with more extensive information underwent a qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: Of 9,254 screened reviews, 310 reviews containing 2,426 articles meeting the predetermined inclusion criteria were included. Interventions were provided globally, but most were provided in the Region of Americas (n = 974) followed by the European Region (n = 596). The interventions targeted different areas, where the most common areas were: Cardiovascular disease/diabetes; Perinatal and child health; Sexual and reproductive health; Cancer; and Mental health. The most common intervention components were Counselling/Education followed by Screening, and Referral/Invitation. The most common actor was a General Practitioner, the most common setting was a Primary Care Clinic, and the largest target group was Adults. However, there were differences regarding intervention components, actors, target groups and setting across the target areas. CONCLUSIONS: This scoping review provides a comprehensive overview of population-oriented preventive and health promoting interventions that have been provided in primary healthcare. Most health promotion and disease prevention interventions are delivered within clinical settings, often on an individual basis. The results can be used by various types of stakeholders for further development of interventions, planning of implementations, and as an indication for future research focus.