Data dashboards in practice: local policymaker perspectives on monitoring health inequalities

Abstract Finland has a robust public health data infrastructure and long-standing policy commitment to promoting health equity. However, while several national dashboards provide extensive data on population health, their use for monitoring health inequalities at the local level remains underutilised. This study examines how subnational policy-makers in Finland use data dashboards in the context of health inequalities monitoring. A qualitative case study design was applied. Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with policymakers responsible for regional wellbeing and health planning. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis to identify patterns in dashboard use, reported barriers, and suggestions for improvement. Dashboards were reported to be widely used for general health monitoring purposes. However, several limitations were identified regarding their applicability for monitoring health inequalities. Participants reported challenges related to data accessibility, integration, limited stratification by equity-relevant factors, and dashboard usability. Additional barriers related to organisational capacity and the relevance of available indicators to local policy needs were also described. Participants suggested improvements including better integration of social and economic data, more user-friendly interfaces, and increased granularity of indicators relevant to health inequalities. A need for dashboards to better support decision-making through more comprehensive and locally relevant data was noted. The study contributes to the understanding of the current use and limitations of dashboards for health inequality monitoring at the subnational level. The findings support ongoing efforts to enhance digital tools for equity-oriented public health policy-making in Europe. This study was conducted as part of the EU-funded Joint Action to Prevent NCDs (JA PreventNCD) project.