IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aph/ajpbhl/2003934557-574_3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Reconsidering community-based health promotion: Promise, performance, and potential

Author

Listed:
  • Merzel, C.
  • D'Afflitti, J.

Abstract

Contemporary public health emphasizes a community-based approach to health promotion and disease prevention. The evidence from the past 20 years indicates, however, that many community-based programs have had only modest impact, with the notable exception of a number of HIV prevention programs. To better understand the reasons for these outcomes, we conducted a systematic literature review of 32 community-based prevention programs. Reasons for poor performance include methodological challenges to study design and evaluation, concurrent secular trends, smaller-than-expected effect sizes, limitations of the interventions, and limitations of theories used. The effectiveness of HIV programs appears to be related in part to extensive formative research and an emphasis on changing social norms.

Suggested Citation

  • Merzel, C. & D'Afflitti, J., 2003. "Reconsidering community-based health promotion: Promise, performance, and potential," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(4), pages 557-574.
    • Handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:2003:93:4:557-574_3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Selma Metintas & Cemalettin Kalyoncu & İnci Arıkan, 2009. "Two Distinct Training Methods for a Doctrine of Life with Healthy Heart in a Low Socioeconomic Society Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 6(11), pages 1-15, November.
    2. Jones, Andrew D. & Cruz Agudo, Yesmina & Galway, Lindsay & Bentley, Jeffery & Pinstrup-Andersen, Per, 2012. "Heavy agricultural workloads and low crop diversity are strong barriers to improving child feeding practices in the Bolivian Andes," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(9), pages 1673-1684.
    3. Chung-Chih Lin & Pang-Hsiang Yu & Jin-Kwan Lin, 2022. "Prompts for the Future to Live Healthier: A Study of Cognition and Motivation for Healthy Behaviors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-10, May.
    4. Richard, Lucie & Lehoux, Pascale & Breton, Eric & Denis, Jean-Louis & Labrie, Louise & Leonard, Claudine, 2004. "Implementing the ecological approach in tobacco control programs: results of a case study," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 409-421, November.
    5. de Leeuw, Evelyne & Skovgaard, Thomas, 2005. "Utility-driven evidence for healthy cities: Problems with evidence generation and application," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(6), pages 1331-1341, September.
    6. Reid, Kaydian S. & Sekhobo, Jackson P. & Gantner, Leigh A. & Holbrook, MaryEllen K. & Allsopp, Marie & Whalen, Linda B. & Koren-Roth, Amy, 2018. "A mixed-method evaluation of the New York State Eat Well Play Hard Community Projects: Building local capacity for sustainable childhood obesity prevention," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 79-88.
    7. Mariano Kanamori & Mario De La Rosa & Cho-Hee Shrader & Cesar Munayco & Susanne Doblecki-Lewis & Guillermo Prado & Steven Safren & Mary Jo Trepka & Kayo Fujimoto, 2019. "Progreso en Salud: Findings from Two Adapted Social Network HIV Risk Reduction Interventions for Latina Seasonal Workers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-13, November.
    8. Colleen M. Fisher & Michael G. Lee & Mary E. Boudreau, 2014. "Using Mixed-Method Assessment to Advance Adolescent HIV Prevention," Clinical Nursing Research, , vol. 23(5), pages 490-513, October.
    9. Tilman Brand & Claudia R. Pischke & Berit Steenbock & Johanna Schoenbach & Saskia Poettgen & Florence Samkange-Zeeb & Hajo Zeeb, 2014. "What Works in Community-Based Interventions Promoting Physical Activity and Healthy Eating? A Review of Reviews," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-23, May.
    10. McNeish Taormina, Roxann & Massey, Tom & Walker-Egea, Connie & Sowell, Cathy & Rigg, Khary K. & Simmons, Christopher & Tran, Quynh, 2023. "Building capacity to create community change (BC4): A model to support successful program planning and implementation," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    11. Kristie L. Ebi, 2011. "Resilience to the Health Risks of Extreme Weather Events in a Changing Climate in the United States," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-14, December.
    12. Andrew Osehi Enaifoghe & Cotties Toyin Adetiba, 2019. "Understanding Dynamic Engagement of Community in Local Governance, Enhancing Grassroots Development in South Africa," Journal of Social and Development Sciences, AMH International, vol. 10(1), pages 22-32.
    13. Vermeulen, Lisa & Schäfer, Willemijn & Pavlic, Danica Rotar & Groenewegen, Peter, 2018. "Community orientation of general practitioners in 34 countries," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(10), pages 1070-1077.
    14. Ahern, Jennifer & Galea, Sandro & Hubbard, Alan & Karpati, Adam, 2008. "Population vulnerabilities and capacities related to health: A test of a model," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(3), pages 691-703, February.
    15. Yiwei Qian & Yi Ming Zheng & Sarah-Eve Dill & Scott Rozelle, 2020. "Correlates of participation in community-based interventions: Evidence from a parenting program in rural China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(9), pages 1-19, September.
    16. Hoon Chuah, Fiona Leh & Srivastava, Aastha & Singh, Shweta Rajkumar & Haldane, Victoria & Huat Koh, Gerald Choon & Seng, Chia Kee & McCoy, David & Legido-Quigley, Helena, 2018. "Community participation in general health initiatives in high and upper-middle income countries: A systematic review exploring the nature of participation, use of theories, contextual drivers and powe," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 106-122.
    17. Smylie, Janet & Kirst, Maritt & McShane, Kelly & Firestone, Michelle & Wolfe, Sara & O'Campo, Patricia, 2016. "Understanding the role of Indigenous community participation in Indigenous prenatal and infant-toddler health promotion programs in Canada: A realist review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 128-143.
    18. Phyllis Dako-Gyeke & Adolphina Addoley Addo-Lartey & Deda Ogum Alangea & Yandisa Sikweyiya & Esnat Dorothy Chirwa & Dorcas Coker-Appiah & Rachel Jewkes & Richard Mawuena Kofi Adanu, 2019. "'Small small quarrels bring about happiness or love in the relationships’: Exploring community perceptions and gendered norms contributing to male perpetrated intimate partner violence in the Central ," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(11), pages 1-22, November.
    19. Maria Felice Arezzo & Cristina Giudici, 2017. "The Effect of Social Capital on Health Among European Older Adults: An Instrumental Variable Approach," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 134(1), pages 153-166, October.
    20. Huan-Cheng Chang & Ting-Huan Chang & Hsiao-Yen Kang & Yu-Wei Chen & Sheng-Pyng Chen & Mei-Chin Wang & Jersey Liang, 2022. "Retention in Community Health Screening among Taiwanese Adults: A 9-Year Prospective Cohort Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-13, June.
    21. Katz, Jason & Wandersman, Abraham & Goodman, Robert M. & Griffin, Sarah & Wilson, Dawn K. & Schillaci, Michael, 2013. "Updating the FORECAST formative evaluation approach and some implications for ameliorating theory failure, implementation failure, and evaluation failure," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 42-50.
    22. Stephen Linder & Dritana Marko & Ye Tian & Tami Wisniewski, 2018. "A Population-Based Approach to Mapping Vulnerability to Diabetes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-13, October.
    23. Andrej Belak & Zuzana Dankulincova Veselska & Andrea Madarasova Geckova & Jitse P. van Dijk & Sijmen A. Reijneveld, 2017. "How Well Do Health-Mediation Programs Address the Determinants of the Poor Health Status of Roma? A Longitudinal Case Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-18, December.
    24. Maria Felice Arezzo & Cristina Giudici, 2017. "Social Capital and Self Perceived Health Among European Older Adults," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 130(2), pages 665-685, January.
    25. Mertens, Frédéric & Saint-Charles, Johanne & Mergler, Donna, 2012. "Social communication network analysis of the role of participatory research in the adoption of new fish consumption behaviors," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(4), pages 643-650.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:2003:93:4:557-574_3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Christopher F Baum (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.apha.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.