ReviewHealth expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy2024
Understanding How, Why and for Whom Link Work Interventions Promote Access in Community Healthcare Settings in the United Kingdom: A Realist Review.
Review in Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Exploring General Practice Nurses' Experiences of an Intervention to Support Social Connectedness Among Older Adults: A Qualitative Descriptive Study.Journal of clinical nursing · 2026Article
- Barriers and facilitators to implementing social prescribing in child and adolescent mental health services: a qualitative analysis using the consolidated framework for implementation research.Frontiers in health services · 2026Article
- Pharmaceutical solutions implemented to improve mental health care pathways: a systematic realist review protocol.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Factors Affecting the Integration of Dental Services Into Health and Social Care for People With Complex Needs.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
19 authors.
Funding
Abstract
introductionInequity in access to healthcare in the United Kingdom can have a profound impact on people's ability to manage their health problems. Link work interventions attempt to overcome the socioeconomic and structural barriers that perpetuate health inequalities. Link workers are typically staff members without professional clinical qualifications who support patients to bridge the gap between services. However, little is currently known about how and why link work interventions might be effective. This realist review attempts to understand the contexts and resultant mechanisms by which link work interventions affect access to community healthcare services.
methodsThe authors completed a systematic search of empirical literature in Embase, CINAHL, Medline, PsychInfo and SocIndex, as well as grey literature and CLUSTER searches. Context, mechanism and outcome (CMO) configurations were generated iteratively in consultation with an expert panel and grouped into theory areas.
resultsThirty-one eligible manuscripts were identified, resulting in nine CMO configurations within three theory areas. These pertained to adequate time in time-pressured systems; the importance of link workers being embedded across multiple systems; and emotional and practical support for link workers.
conclusionAlthough link work interventions are increasingly utilised across community healthcare settings, the contexts in which they operate vary considerably, triggering a range of mechanisms. The findings suggest that careful matching of resources to patient need and complexity is important. It affords link workers the time to develop relationships with patients, embed themselves in local communities and referring teams, and develop knowledge of local challenges. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: The team included people with lived experience of mental health conditions and a carer who were involved at all stages of the review.
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What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.