Development of a taxonomy of activities in health prevention and promotion for primary care

Abstract

Aim: To develop a taxonomy of activities in health prevention and promotion for primary care.

Background: Despite health promotion being considered a keystone for population health and health care sustainability, its implementation remains insufficient. Customized evaluation tools are needed to address prevention and promotion omissions in primary care.

Method: A taxonomy was designed using documentary analysis. Documents describing frontline primary care professionals' health prevention and promotion activities or omissions were identified and analysed using framework analysis.

Results: The 'Taxonomy of Activities in Health Prevention and Promotion for Primary Care' (TaxoPromo) includes 43 activities grouped into eight categories: planification, situational analysis, capacity building, development of awareness/public opinion, advocacy, development of networks, development of partnerships and intervention strategies.

Conclusion: By contrasting the usual practices with the activities collected in the TaxoPromo, opportunities for improvement can be unveiled.

Implications for nursing management: The TaxoPromo can be used at organisational and system levels to identify actions to integrate health prevention and promotion activities into a systematic, data-driven process; design implementation plans and tailor-made strategies for capacity building; enable benchmarking; and address omissions. The TaxoPromo can serve as a catalyst tool for the clarification and expansion of the nursing role in health prevention and promotion.

Keywords: capacity building; health promotion; nursing care; preventive health services; taxonomy.