Mc Conalogue D, Kierans C, Moran A
Health Education North West, Mersey Deanery, Liverpool L3 4BL, UK.
Department of Public Health and Policy, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GL, UK.
J Public Health (Oxf). 2016 Jun;38(2):206-11. doi: 10.1093/pubmed/fdv059. Epub 2015 May 11.
Fuel poverty negatively impacts a population's health affecting life chances along the life course. Moreover, it represents a substantial inequality in the UK. Healthcare practitioners (HCPs) have a key role in identifying and supporting patients who are fuel poor.
A qualitative inquiry with District Nurses and General Practitioners, to explore their understanding and experiences of dealing with patients living in fuel poverty.
Participants recognize fuel poverty by observing material cues. They perceive their relationship with the patient as pivotal to recognizing the fuel poor. Practitioners' sense of responsibility for their patients' social concerns is determined by their knowledge about the link to health outcomes. The services that they sign-post to are motivated by their experience dealing with the service, or their patients' experiences of the service.
Participants' reliance on temporary material cues resulted in few experiences of recognition of the fuel poor. HCPs' perceptions of patient pride and the lack of personal relationship between doctor and patient presented barriers to identifying fuel poor patients. A limitation of this study is the small sample size of nine participants. These came from two professional groups, which afforded more depth of exploration, but may limit applicability to other professionals.
燃料贫困对人群健康产生负面影响，在整个人生历程中影响生活机遇。此外，它在英国是一个严重的不平等问题。医疗从业者在识别和支持燃料贫困患者方面发挥着关键作用。
对社区护士和全科医生进行定性调查，以探讨他们对处理燃料贫困患者的理解和经验。
参与者通过观察物质线索来识别燃料贫困。他们认为自己与患者的关系对于识别燃料贫困者至关重要。从业者对患者社会问题的责任感取决于他们对与健康结果之间联系的了解。他们推荐的服务是由他们处理该服务的经验或患者对该服务的体验所驱动的。
参与者对临时物质线索的依赖导致识别燃料贫困者的经验很少。医疗从业者对患者自尊心的看法以及医患之间缺乏个人关系，为识别燃料贫困患者带来了障碍。本研究的一个局限性是九名参与者的样本量较小。这些参与者来自两个专业群体，这使得探索更深入，但可能会限制对其他专业人员的适用性。
