JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The social determinants of health are “the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age”, such as housing, employment, and race. Canadian primary health care organizations are increasingly looking for ways to systematically and routinely collect demographic and social needs data from patients to increase appropriate and responsive care by attending to the social determinants of health. The SPARK Tool is a standardized tool for use in primary health care settings which was developed, piloted-tested, refined and validated in primary health care clinics across Canada. “General Practitioners (GPs) at the Deep End” is a network of primary health care GPs working in the 100 most socioeconomically deprived populations in Scotland with the goal of connecting practitioners and advocating for better training, policies, and resources. Primary Health Care at the Deep End Canada / Soins primaires en milieux défavorisés Canada (Deep End Canada) was launched in June 2024. The network aims to support the growing interest in Canadian primary health care to systematically and routinely collect and use demographic and social needs data by offering guidance and resources to inform care provision that responds to the social determinants of health.

Objective:

Our primary objective is to spread the sustainable implementation of the SPARK Tool to systematically and routinely collect and use demographic and social needs data to respond to the social determinants of health in 20-25 primary health care organizations across Canada through the creation of Deep End Canada.

Methods:

Deep End Canada is a network of primary health care teams, including health professionals, researchers, patient partners, and decision-makers, working in areas of Canada with high rates of poverty. This project will utilize a multi-method developmental evaluation approach guided by the RE-AIM (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance) framework. Online surveys will capture the reach and adoption of demographic and social needs data collection, and qualitative analysis of interviews and meetings will be used to evaluate. Recruitment to the network commenced in June 2024 and survey data collection commenced in September 2024. Implementation of the network will be assessed from June 2024-December 2025 with findings to be available in June 2026. network activities.

Results:

Recruitment to the network commenced in June 2024 and survey data collection commenced in September 2024. Implementation of the network will be assessed from June 2024-December 2025 with findings to be available in June 2026.

Conclusions:

Efforts to implement systematic and routine demographic and social needs data collection in Canadian primary health care has grown significantly in the last ten years. This increased commitment is not only to support data collection, but to use data to develop evidence-based health equity interventions that can reduce health disparities and address needs within the local community. Deep End Canada is a national network of primary health care teams and researchers working collectively to develop, inform and share strategies that can support data collection, data use and related local health equity initiatives.