Health Trainers: Person Centred or Target Driven?

Objectives England’s Health Trainer Service (HTS) aims to reduce inequalities by supporting people from disadvantaged areas to improve their health and wellbeing. As lay people, trained to offer personalised ‘support from next door,’ Health Trainers (HT) assist individuals in setting behaviour change goals and empowering them to improve their lifestyle. This presentation; • summarises evidence on the service’s effectiveness in terms of behaviour change and mental health and wellbeing improvements • identifies successful factors of various HTS models– including how HTs work within Primary Care and communities • explores pertinent issues in relation to how the service is changing in terms of its setting and its approach Methods A range of data gathered by the research team is drawn on; • a synthesis of eight HTS evaluations • a review of outcome data - from 97,248 clients and 1377 HTs • case studies and interviews collected whilst hosting the Yorkshire & Humber Regional HT Hub Results HTs are able to reach people living with disadvantage - 43% of clients come from highly deprived areas. They are successful at enabling clients to make changes - more than 59% develop a personal health plan and 49% of those fully achieve their goals. Self-efficacy, General Health and WHO-5 wellbeing scores also improve. Evaluations reveal that HTs ‘person centred and peer led’ approach, their ability to connect with people and their status as non-clinicians is important. HTS are becoming more closely integrated within Primary Care and an increased emphasis on meeting targets is evident - current debates include how this could impact on reach and affect the service’s holistic ethos. Conclusion The HTS’s holistic, person-centred approach is effective at reaching deprived communities, empowering behaviour change and improving wellbeing. Maintaining this approach within a more target driven culture is challenging but examples of HTS achieving this balance can be identified.

https://www.jyu.fi/sport/laitokset/terveys/en/NHPR...