How to Better Integrate Social Determinants of Health into Primary Healthcare: Various Stakeholders’ Perspectives

Abstract

This paper aims to identify challenges and opportunities related to the integration of social determinants of health (SDH) into primary healthcare at an international symposium in Orford, Quebec, Canada. A descriptive qualitative approach was conducted. Three focus groups on different topics were led by international facilitators. Two research team members took notes during the focus groups. All the material was analyzed using a thematic analysis according to an inductive method. Many challenges were identified, leading to the identification of potential opportunities: integrate the concept of SDH in all phases of the training curriculum for health professionals to foster interprofessional and intersectoral collaboration and sociocultural skills; organize healthcare for better outreach to vulnerable populations; organize local and regional committees to develop management frameworks to produce and use territory-specific data; develop dashboards for primary healthcare providers describing the composition of their territory’s population; work collaboratively, rallying primary healthcare providers, community organization delegates, patient partners, citizens, and municipality representatives around common projects. Discussions prompted new directions for further primary healthcare research, among which are building on best practices in the literature and in the field, and engaging various stakeholders in research, including vulnerable populations, while focusing on patient experience.