In the mantra of self-respecting, community-based interventions, community participation is both means and cure. Or is it? "Broad-based participation" has become so pervasive within health promotion practice that it operates more as vague backdrop than as a high relief feature of an intervention's design. As foreground, participation is a dimension of an intervention that is critically examined for its applicability to unique settings and populations; owned for its potential to both contribute to and limit an intervention's "success;" and respected for the personal and community power it may activate.
The worldwide healthy cities and communities movement offers a setting for examining participation in a health promotion setting. Topics to be covered include: issues in conceptualizing participation; common assumptions made about participation; the challenge of measuring participation; and structuring participation opportunities to provide the most effective leverage for intervention success. Qualitative data drawn from key informant interviews and quantitative data drawn from coalition member surveys in 20 California Healthy Cities and Communities sites provide the empirical basis for the presentation. A template and tools will be presented for evaluating participation and for assisting program developers in meaningfully structuring participation into their implementation and evaluation designs.
Learning Objectives: Articulate myths and pitfalls of community participation. Identify ways to intentionally and strategically employ participation strategies within health promotion interventions. Describe dimensions of the participation template for the design and evaluation of community-based health promotion interventions.
Keywords: Community Participation, Community-Based Partnership
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Center for Civic Partnerships, California Healthy Cities and Communities Program
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: consultant under sub-contract with Emory University, which has an evaluation contract with the Center for Civic Partnerships