Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32143692›Full record

ArticleBMC health services research2020

Collaboration with community connectors to improve primary care access for hardly reached people: a case comparison of rural Ireland and Australia.

Carolyn Wallace, Jane Farmer, Carolynne White, Anthony McCosker

Open access · goldAbstract readComparative Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in BMC health services research, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
2.2field-weighted citation impact, top 10% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. "The Poorer You Are, the Harder It Is": Perspectives on Community Health Promotion in Tasmania.Health promotion journal of Australia : official journal of Australian Association of Health Promotion Professionals · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Carolyn WallaceSwinburne University of Technology, Mail Services Unit, H25, PO Box 218, Hawthorn, VIC, 3122, Australia. cwallace@swin.edu.au.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5687-4343
Jane FarmerSwinburne University of Technology, Mail Services Unit, H25, PO Box 218, Hawthorn, VIC, 3122, Australia.
Carolynne WhiteSwinburne University of Technology, Mail Services Unit, H25, PO Box 218, Hawthorn, VIC, 3122, Australia.
Anthony McCoskerSwinburne University of Technology, Mail Services Unit, H31, PO Box 218, Hawthorn, VIC, 3122, Australia.
Swinburne University of Technology · AUMind Australia · AU

Funding

Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship N/A
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThis study presents a way for health services to improve service access for hardly reached people through an exploration of how staff can find and collaborate with citizens (referred to as connectors) who span socio-cultural boundaries in their community. The study explored the local socio-cultural contexts of connectors' boundary spanning activities and if they are health related; boundary spanning occurring between connectors and health professionals at the interface of health systems and community; and the opportunities and barriers to actively seeking out and collaborating with community connectors to access marginalised and hardly reached people.

methodsWe conducted a qualitative case comparison from rural Ireland and Australia. Following purposive snow-ball sampling techniques to recruit participants, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 34 community informants, 21 healthcare staff and 32 connectors. Transcripts were coded and analysed using an inductive approach to ascertain categories and overall themes.

resultsWe found a diverse sample of connectors relating to heterogenous, small and locally distinct groups of hardly reached people. Overall 26 connectors were active at the interface between health services and the community, with variation in how this occurred between cases. The majority (21) described one or more health related activities with hardly reached people. All connectors expressed a willingness to develop a relationship with local health services on issues they identified as relevant. Barriers to collaborations between connectors and health services related to bureaucracy, workload, and burnout.

conclusionsCollaborating with connectors has potential as one strategy to improve access to health services for hardly reached people. To enact this, health staff need to identify local socio-cultural boundaries and associated connectors, facilitate two-way connections at the boundary between health services and community and enable collaboration by attending to activities in the community, at the interface between health services and community, and within the health system.

Indexed as

Cooperative BehaviorAdultAgedAustraliaCommunity Health WorkersCommunity NetworksFemaleHealth Services AccessibilityHumansIrelandMaleMiddle AgedOrganizational Case StudiesPrimary Health CareQualitative ResearchRural Health ServicesAccess to health careBoundary spanningCommunity connectorsCommunity health workersPrimary health care

Identifiers

PMID32143692
PMCPMC7059343
OpenAlexW3011297519

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.