Empowering communities with health promotion labs: result from a CBPR programme in Malmö, Sweden

Abstract

Health promotion is thus not only a participatory practice, but a practice forempowerment and social justice. The study describes findings from a community-basedparticipatory and challenge-driven research program. that aimed to improve health through healthpromotion platform in an ethnically diverse low-income neighbourhood of Malmö, Sweden. Localresidents together with lay health promoters living in the area were actively involved in theplanning phase and decided on the structure and content of the program. Academic, public sectorand commercial actors were involved, as well as NGOs and residents. Empowerment was usedas a lens to analyse focus group interviews with participants (n=322) in six co-creative healthpromotinglabs on three occasions in the period 2017-2019. The CBP R interview guide focusedon the dimensions of participation, collaboration and experience of the activities. The CBP Rapproach driven by community member contributed to empowerment processes within the healthpromotion labs: Health promotors building trust in social places for integration, Participantsmotivate each other by social support and Participants acting for community health in widercircle. CBP R Health promotion program should be followed up longitudielly with communityparticipants to be able to see the processes of change and empowerment on the community level.

Lay Health Promoters Empower Neighbourhoods-Results From a Community-Based Research Programme in Southern Sweden

“…Three large future workshops ( 16 ) involving 150 community members were held in the period June-November 2016 ( 17 ), to collectively decide on structure and content for health-promoting activities. An open invitation to attend the future workshops was made to all residents in the neighbourhood, as well as to different community groups, such as a local women's network.…”

“…A process evaluation of partnership processes, power mechanisms, and experiences of activities was conducted every 6 months, to follow up the planning model and further develop activities and structures. Interviews were conducted with partners in the steering committee, the local HUB, the LHPs, and community members in the labs ( n = 250), according to interview guides following the planning model ( 17 , 19 ). The model followed an iterative process, where the future workshops and CBPR planning were anticipated to start again after being evaluated every second year (unfortunately this was not possible because of the pandemic, and public health guidelines that precluded large public meetings).…”

“…The present study focuses on the role of the LHPs, and therefore only provides a brief description of the management and support structure for the Lindängen initiative as a whole. Details concerning the programme's management structure, CBPR processes and the individual health promotion labs have been reported in other studies [see ( 13 , 17 , 20 – 23 )]. The LHPs occupied a key position in the structure, since they were involved in the steering committee, the local HUB, and the individual labs, as well as having their own internal meetings.…”

“…The steering committee comprised partners on the structural level, with directors from organisations representing relevant sectors in society ( 17 ). The University Pro Vice-Chancellor chaired the steering committee (see Table 1 ), while the project leader (first author) organised the steering committee meetings.…”

“…Six LHPs were recruited in connection with the initial future workshops ( 16 ) that defined the priorities and content of the Lindängen initiative ( 17 ) and worked part-time for the duration of the programme. Five of them were women and one was a man.…”