TY - JOUR T1 - How health care may modify the effects of illness determinants on population outcomes: the Leicester SEARCH conceptual framework for primary care JF - BJGP Open JO - BJGP Open DO - 10.3399/bjgpopen18X101603 VL - 2 IS - 3 SP - bjgpopen18X101603 AU - Louis S Levene AU - John Bankart AU - Nicola Walker AU - Andrew Wilson AU - Richard Baker Y1 - 2018/10/01 UR - http://bjgpopen.org/content/2/3/bjgpopen18X101603.abstract N2 - To research, evaluate, and deliver health care that effectively improves health outcomes across populations, relationships between the numerous variables that determine these outcomes should be understood. Conceptual frameworks can aid the description and analysis of health in populations. Investigators usually have an implicit framework underpinning their research. Population health lags behind other disciplines, such as psychology and sociology, in the use of conceptual frameworks;1 currently published frameworks are not configured ideally for primary care-focused research. In this article, we aim to fill an important gap by describing a new and comprehensive conceptual framework for population health that can assist both research and service in primary care. The framework provides a schematic overview of presumed relationships between variables, recognising that many variables do not ‘behave’ consistently in every situation.Population health: definitions and its role in improving health careThe World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’.2 Disease is a disorder of structure or function, which produces specific symptoms or affects a specific location; it is not solely a direct result of trauma. Health needs are ‘deficiencies in health that require health care, from promotion to palliation’.2 Health outcomes are the end results or effects of events or processes or situations. Health care is the organised provision of medical care to individuals or a community,3 covering a range of interventions (actions taken to improve health). Healthcare systems are the combined activities of people, institutions, and resources whose primary purpose is to promote, restore, and/or maintain health.3 Illness determinants are the range of personal, social, economic, and environmental factors that decisively affect health status or cause illness.3 Healthcare systems can struggle to deliver better health outcomes for whole populations. Effective interventions are more likely to be delivered if the relevant … ER -