Uncovering Public Health insights from seldom-heard groups

The Assignment

Kent County Council (KCC) commissioned 31ten to deliver a behavioural insights project; engaging with residents who are eligible for but don’t access Public Health services including sexual health, healthy lifestyles, NHS health checks and postural stability. The Council wanted to gain a better understanding of the barriers and enablers to access for a range of seldom-heard groups. The scope also included engagement with young people to understand their social media use and how it impacts their wellbeing. This work aimed to support Kent’s Public Health transformation programme and help inform future commissioning activity.  

The Role

The 31ten team engaged with Public Health Consultants and Commissioning leads and analysed service level and population level data to:  

  • Create position statements for each service area which identified target cohorts and geographies based on key measures including deprivation and the CORE20PLUS5 framework for targeting health interventions.  
  • Create a sampling strategy for each service which set out who we would engage with and how, including approaches to identify, target and recruit participants.  

The 31ten team then delivered behavioural insights gathering in Kent communities. Our approach included: 

  • Delivering online surveys to gain quantitative insights into the challenges associated with access to Public Health services.
  • Delivering pop-up engagements; attending community events, groups and settings including foodbanks, community centres, libraries, colleges and cultural centres to speak to seldom-heard residents on an opportunity basis.
  • Delivering focus groups with pre-existing peer support groups for seldom heard residents including those with serious mental illness, or in recovery from substance or alcohol abuse.
  • Conducting semi-structured interviews with residents who preferred to engage in this way (including autistic and LGBTQ+ residents).

Key Outcomes

  • Following extensive engagement activity, the team gathered almost 1,100 responses and used these insights to identify themes and specific barriers faced by different seldom-heard groups. 
  • A set of practical and tangible recommendations have been developed for each service to take forward alongside overall strategic recommendations for the Public Health transformation programme. 
  • KCC have an enhanced understanding of the overall barriers to residents accessing Public Health services and barriers for specific groups. They have clear next steps to address these barriers.