International Festival of Public Health

S 2 - Health Promotion and Improvement Workshop

Jane South, Leeds Metropolitan University, Public Health England

Jude Stansfield, Public Health England

Mark Gamsu, Leeds Metropolitan University

Background: Community-centred interventions that strengthen communities and facilitate active participation can make a major contribution to improving health and wellbeing in England, but evidence is scattered around, terminology can be confusing and inconsistent, and opportunities for sharing learning are often lost. A further issue is that the traditional evidence model currently lags behind practice because it undervalues the experiences of people most affected by inequalities. An exciting new project, jointly supported by Public Health England and NHS England, is aiming to draw together and disseminate existing evidence and learning on working with communities and supporting community-centred health and wellbeing interventions. As part of the project a new conceptual map of community interventions is being developed.

Aim: The aim of the workshop is to introduce the project and to invite discussion on the relevance and fit of the map to current public health practice.

Workshop content: The workshop will provide an overview of the project and present a new map of community-based approaches to health improvement. This map is based on the idea of a ‘family of community interventions’ and highlights the range of options for local leaders, commissioners and practitioners. The major categories cover (1) strengthening communities (2) lay/peer and volunteer roles (3) collaborative approaches and (4) access to community resources. This ‘family of interventions’ is being developed as part of the project’s conceptual framework in order to provide a coherent case for supporting and mainstreaming community centred approaches as a building block for public health. The project is developing an integrated model of evidence to reflect both lay and practitioner experience. Workshop participants will be invited to discuss to what extent the project will add value, what of evidence is useful and does the framework and family of approaches map well to practice.