Service Provider and User Transcripts Exploring the Acceptability of Brief Health Conversations Such as Making Every Contact Count Within the Third and Social Economy Sector, 2022-2023

Beth Nichol, BN and Catherine Haighton, CH and Angela Rodrigues, AR and Rob Wilson, RW (2023). Service Provider and User Transcripts Exploring the Acceptability of Brief Health Conversations Such as Making Every Contact Count Within the Third and Social Economy Sector, 2022-2023. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Service. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-856448

Making Every Contact Count (MECC) aims to promote healthy lifestyle behaviours by utilising the everyday conversations that service providers have with their clients. Through opportunistic conversations lasting between seconds and minutes, MECC aims to target behaviours relating to smoking, diet, physical activity, and alcohol intake. Due to its brief and therefore cost-effective nature, MECC has been widely applied within healthcare settings, and is now a compulsory part of training for all NHS healthcare staff. Numerous studies have investigated the implementation of MECC training and MECC conversations within these settings, and there is some evidence for its effectiveness, namely in pregnant individuals and recent mothers. The Third and Social Economy (TSE) sector includes all voluntary and community groups that operate independently to the government, outside of friends and family, and predominantly for social benefit. This sector offers an alternate setting to deliver MECC and other brief interventions. However, brief interventions have seldom been explored within the TSE, with MECC specifically researched even less. Research is needed to explore the views and opinions of those who would be delivering MECC and receiving it; questions such as whether MECC would be appropriate in a TSE setting, how it might best be implemented, and what the barriers may be. The current qualitative study applied semi-structured interviews with TSE service providers and users. The underlying epistemological standpoint is critical realist. Content analysis has been applied to explore barriers and facilitators, and thematic analysis to explore the acceptability of MECC within the TSE. The aim was understanding the barriers and facilitators to implementing MECC within a TSE setting, current training can be assessed as to whether it is adequate, informing future funding and training in this area.

Data description (abstract)

Objectives: The Making Every Contact Count (MECC) initiative encourages brief, opportunistic conversations around health and wellbeing. Funding and training roll-out has facilitated MECC within the Third and Social Economy (TSE) sector (groups or organisations operating independently to family and government with social justice as the primary aim), yet minimal research exists. The current study aimed to explore the acceptability of health and wellbeing conversations such as MECC within the TSE, including their existence without MECC training.

Methods: A qualitative design, utilising semi-structured, one-to-one interviews. Service providers (n=15) and users (n=5) across a variety of TSE settings including charities and religious settings were interviewed, most of whom had not received MECC training. Transcripts explore the acceptability of brief health conversations such as Making Every Contact Count (MECC) within the Third and Social Economy (TSE) sector. Health behaviours explored include smoking, alcohol consumption, diet, and physical activity. Interviews also explore conversations around the social determinants of health including housing, finance, and employment, and whether conversations around health and wellbeing occurred within these settings already. The beginning of each interview also explores the participants role and experience within the TSE setting. Reflexive thematic analysis was applied using Nvivo.

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