Identifying strategies to increase influenza vaccination in GP practices: a positive deviance approach.

BACKGROUND: Influenza (flu) is an acute viral infection of the respiratory tract, which can lead to serious complications for individuals within at-risk groups. Evidence indicates that aspects of organization and delivery within GP practices can have an influence on the rates of flu vaccination uptake. Positive deviance is a methodological approach that facilitates identification of factors associated with high performance. OBJECTIVE: To use positive deviance to isolate factors associated with high performance by comparing GP practices achieving high and low flu vaccination uptake. METHODS: This was a qualitative study. A total of 18 practice managers and 2 GPs from 20 GP practices participated, 10 with high and low vaccination rates, respectively. Telephone interviews were conducted, audio recorded and fully transcribed. Framework Analysis was used to analyse the data. RESULTS: High uptake practices were more likely than low uptake practices to have a lead member of staff who demonstrated tenacity, have aspirational uptake targets, have developed and used additional prompts within their IT systems to identify eligible patients, have GPs who were opportunistically vaccinating and use phone calls as a first-line strategy to invite patients for vaccination. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first known qualitative study to identify strategies used by UK GP practices to deliver seasonal flu vaccination programmes. It is one of few studies using the robust and novel approach of positive deviance to inform health care recommendations. This approach has offered new and more nuanced insights into GP practice factors associated high flu vaccination uptake beyond those captured through large-scale survey research.

Regional impact assessment of air quality improvement: The air quality lifecourse assessment tool (AQ-LAT) for the West Midlands combined authority (WMCA) area.

Poor air quality is the largest environmental health risk in England. In the West Midlands, UK, ∼2.9 million people are affected by air pollution with an average loss in life expectancy of up to 6 months. The 2021 Environment Act established a legal framework for local authorities in England to develop regional air quality plans, generating a policy need for predictive environmental impact assessment tools. In this context, we developed a novel Air Quality Lifecourse Assessment Tool (AQ-LAT) to estimate electoral ward-level impacts of PM2.5 and NO2 exposure on outcomes of interest to local authorities, namely morbidity (asthma, coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, lung cancer), mortality, and associated healthcare costs. We apply the Tool to assess the health economic burden of air pollutant exposure and estimate benefits that would be generated by meeting WHO 2021 Global Air Quality Guidelines (AQGs) (annual average concentrations) for NO2 (10 µg/m3) and PM2.5 (5 µg/m3) in the West Midlands Combined Authority Area. All West Midlands residents live in areas which exceed WHO AQGs, with 2070 deaths, 2070 asthma diagnoses, 770 CHD diagnoses, 170 lung cancers and 650 strokes attributable to air pollution exposure annually. Reducing PM2.5 and NO2 concentrations to WHO AQGs would save 10,700 lives reducing regional mortality by 1.8%, gaining 92,000 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), and preventing 20,500 asthma, 7400 CHD, 1400 lung cancer, and 5700 stroke diagnoses, with economic benefits of £3.2 billion over 20 years. Significantly, we estimate 30% of QALY gains relate to reduced disease burden. The AQ-LAT has major potential to be replicated across local authorities in England and applied to inform regional investment decisions.

Estimation of outbreak severity and transmissibility: Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 in households.

BACKGROUND: When an outbreak of a novel pathogen occurs, some of the most pressing questions from a public-health point of view relate to its transmissibility, and the probabilities of different clinical outcomes following infection, to allow an informed response. Estimates of these quantities are often based on household data due to the high potential for transmission in this setting, but typically a rich spectrum of individual-level outcomes (from uninfected to serious illness) are simplified to binary data (infected or not). We address the added benefit from retaining the heterogeneous outcome information in the case of the 2009-10 influenza pandemic, which posed particular problems for estimation of key epidemiological characteristics due to its relatively mild nature and hence low case ascertainment rates. METHODS: We use mathematical models of within-household transmission and case ascertainment, together with Bayesian statistics to estimate transmission probabilities stratified by household size, the variability of infectiousness of cases, and a set of probabilities describing case ascertainment. This novel approach was applied to data we collected from the early "containment phase" stage of the epidemic in Birmingham, England. We also conducted a comprehensive review of studies of household transmission of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09. RESULTS: We find large variability in the published estimates of within-household transmissibility of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 in both model-based studies and those reporting secondary attack rates, finding that these estimates are very sensitive to how an infected case is defined. In particular, we find that reliance on laboratory confirmation alone underestimates the true number of cases, while utilising the heterogeneous range of outcomes (based on case definitions) for household infections allows a far more comprehensive pattern of transmission to be elucidated. CONCLUSIONS: Differences in household sizes and how cases are defined could account for an appreciable proportion of the reported variability of within-household transmissibility of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09. Retaining and statistically analysing the full spectrum of individual-level outcomes (based on case definitions) rather than taking a potentially arbitrary threshold for infection, provides much-needed additional information. In a future pandemic, our approach could be used as a real-time analysis tool to infer the true number of cases, within-household transmission rates and levels of case ascertainment.

The characteristics and motivations of online health information seekers: cross-sectional survey and qualitative interview study.

BACKGROUND: Most households in the United Kingdom have Internet access, and health-related Internet use is increasing. The National Health Service (NHS) Direct website is the major UK provider of online health information. OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to identify the characteristics and motivations of online health information seekers accessing the NHS Direct website, and to examine the benefits and challenges of the health Internet. METHODS: We undertook an online questionnaire survey, offered to users of the NHS Direct website. A subsample of survey respondents participated in in-depth, semistructured, qualitative interviews by telephone or instant messaging/email. Questionnaire results were analyzed using chi-square statistics. Thematic coding with constant comparison was used for interview transcript analysis. RESULTS: In total 792 respondents completed some or all of the survey: 71.2% (534/750 with data available) were aged under 45 years, 67.4% (511/758) were female, and 37.7% (286/759) had university-level qualifications. They sought information for themselves (545/781, 69.8%), someone else (172/781, 22.0%), or both (64/781, 8.2%). Women were more likely than men to seek help for someone else or both themselves and someone else (168/509 vs 61/242, χ(2) (2) = 6.35, P = .04). Prior consultation with a health professional was reported by 44.9% (346/770), although this was less common in younger age groups (<36 years) (χ(2) (1) = 24.22, P < .001). Participants aged 16 to 75 years (n = 26, 20 female, 6 male) were recruited for interview by telephone (n = 23) and instant messaging/email (n = 3). Four major interview themes were identified: motivations for seeking help online; benefits of seeking help in this way and some of the challenges faced; strategies employed in navigating online health information provision and determining what information to use and to trust; and specific comments regarding the NHS Direct website service. Within the motivation category, four concepts emerged: the desire for reassurance; the desire for a second opinion to challenge other information; the desire for greater understanding to supplement other information; and perceived external barriers to accessing information through traditional sources. The benefits clustered around three theme areas: convenience, coverage, and anonymity. Various challenges were discussed but no prominent theme emerged. Navigating online health information and determining what to trust was regarded as a "common sense" activity, and brand recognition was important. Specific comments about NHS Direct included the perception that the online service was integrated with traditional service provision. CONCLUSIONS: This study supports a model of evolutionary rather than revolutionary change in online health information use. Given increasing resource constraints, the health care community needs to seek ways of promoting efficient and appropriate health service use, and should aim to harness the potential benefits of the Internet, informed by an understanding of how and why people go online for health.

The development of a digital intervention to increase influenza vaccination amongst pregnant women.

OBJECTIVE: Pregnant women and unborn babies are at increased risk of complications from influenza, including pneumonia, yet in the UK, uptake of flu vaccination amongst this population remains <50%. Pregnant women hold beliefs about risks of flu and efficacy of vaccination that consistently predict them to decline vaccination. This study aimed to develop a theory and evidence-based intervention addressing these beliefs to promote flu vaccine uptake. METHODS: The intervention was developed by behavioural scientists, pregnant women, midwives, clinicians and Public Health professionals, informed by Intervention Mapping. Six predefined steps were performed in line with Intervention Mapping. RESULTS: The intervention is an animation addressing beliefs about risks of flu and efficacy of vaccination. Preliminary testing using qualitative methodology indicates the information within the animation is appropriate, and the animation is acceptable to pregnant women. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first known intervention for pregnant women, aiming to increase flu vaccination through addressing risk and efficacy appraisals. It has been implemented within seasonal flu vaccination campaigns during 2018/19 and 2019/20 within one geographically and ethnically diverse area of the UK.