Population-oriented health promotion and disease prevention interventions in primary healthcare: a scoping review of reviews

Primary healthcare is located close to the population and is key to providing health promotion and disease prevention interventions, which are important strategies to achieve universal health coverage. Population-oriented interventions provided by primary healthcare have been reported as effective, but research has not presented a global overview of their characteristics yet. Therefore, the purpose of this scoping review of reviews is to map population-oriented health promotion and disease prevention interventions within primary healthcare. Four databases (MEDLINE, Web of Science, PsycInfo, and CINAHL) were searched for various types of reviews (systematic reviews, scoping reviews, realist reviews, rapid reviews, realist synthesis, narrative reviews, critical reviews, and other types of reviews if they provided enough information about a systematic approach) published in English from inception to 2022. Reviews were included and data extracted if their results sections reported on articles meeting our inclusion criteria about participants, concept, context, and type of evidence source. The analysis entailed summarising extracted data for some items while items with more extensive information underwent a qualitative content analysis. Of 9,254 screened reviews, 310 reviews containing 2,426 articles meeting the predetermined inclusion criteria were included. Interventions were provided globally, but most were provided in the Region of Americas (n = 974) followed by the European Region (n = 596). The interventions targeted different areas, where the most common areas were: Cardiovascular disease/diabetes; Perinatal and child health; Sexual and reproductive health; Cancer; and Mental health. The most common intervention components were Counselling/Education followed by Screening, and Referral/Invitation. The most common actor was a General Practitioner, the most common setting was a Primary Care Clinic, and the largest target group was Adults. However, there were differences regarding intervention components, actors, target groups and setting across the target areas. This scoping review provides a comprehensive overview of population-oriented preventive and health promoting interventions that have been provided in primary healthcare. Most health promotion and disease prevention interventions are delivered within clinical settings, often on an individual basis. The results can be used by various types of stakeholders for further development of interventions, planning of implementations, and as an indication for future research focus.