addressInG iNcome securITy in Primary carE

IGNITE (addressInG iNcome securITy in Primary carE) Study: A Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial

Social processes that impact the health of individuals have been labeled the social determinants of health (SDOH). These are "the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age. These circumstances are shaped by the distribution of money, power and resources at global, national and local levels". Perhaps the most important SDOH is income security, a person's actual, perceived and expected income. Our objective is to carry out a pragmatic randomized controlled trial that evaluates the impact of an income-focused health promoter.

This study aims to answer the question: What is the impact of an income security health promotion service based in a primary care setting on the income security of people living in poverty? We hypothesize that an income security health promotion service for adults living in poverty will increase monthly income relative to usual care. We will carry out a pragmatic randomized controlled trial that evaluates the impact of such a new service focused on income security health promotion. The St. Michael's Hospital Academic Family Health Team has received ongoing funding from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) to support this service. The primary outcome is income security, and secondary outcomes include quality of life, financial literacy and community integration.

Population - Adults living in poverty Intervention - Income security health promotion Control - Usual care Outcome - Primary: Improvement in income per month in the intervention group at 6 months (post-intervention) compared to income in control group at 6 months (pre-intervention). Secondary: quality of life, self-rated health, community engagement.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age ≥18
• Lives within the Metropolitan catchment areas
• Lives in a postal code that is in the lowest income quintile, or has had a billing code specific to social assistance forms billed ever billed, or has been identified as low income based on reported family income and number of people supported by income on the "Health Equity Data"
• Patient of the Family Health team including those that are: rostered, non-rostered, refugee claimants (IFH) or uninsured seen in the FHT.
• Verified by the patient's family physician as living in poverty, a good candidate for the intervention, and the patient's family physician agrees to have a letter submitted with his/her name attached.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients who have previously worked with the Income Security Health Promoter, or are part of households of people who have previously worked with the Income Security Health Promoter.
• Patients who have no available contact information for mailing.
• Patients of any member of the investigative team.