Health Promotion and Community Development

Community Development Approaches to Health Promotion

In this literature review, it has become apparent that there are problems with definitions at every turn. What is Health Promotion? What is community? What is Community Development? What are community development approaches to health promotion?

It is also clear that the policy environment has progressively moved, both nationally and internationally, towards a policy of community development approaches – accelerated since the adoption of the Ottawa Charter (and its 5 Principles) in 1986.
However, the translation of policy into practice has proved problematic, and solutions to these problems are still in development.

The first part of this review attempts to extract some definitions which can set the way to understanding this process, and briefly visits the policy environment.

The second part lifts abstracts from the literature in order to address the questions of community development approaches to health promotion, the need and barriers, looks at the problems of defining effectiveness or success of interventions, suggests requisites necessary in designing or implementing any community development approach, and finally briefly discussing the issues of empowerment and partnership.

It must be emphasised that these are weighty issues, and the time allocated has not allowed for detailed analysis. Rather, the abstracts, sometimes repetitive, have been extracted and placed in an order that can begin to make some sense although this process is in no way complete.

1. What is Health Promotion? Page 1
2. Approaches to Health Promotion – Page 3
3. Policy Environment – Page 6
4. Community Development Approaches to Health Promotion – Page 7
4.1 What is Community? – Page 8
4.2 What is Community Development? – Page 8
4.3 What are Community Development Approaches to Health Promotion? (Literature Abstracts) – Page 9
4.4 Lack of Evidence re Community Development Intervention Outcomes – Page 14
4.5...