Indices and Indicators Developed to Evaluate the “Strengthening Community Actions” Mechanism of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Objective.
To determine 1) the indexes/indicators used for evaluating the “strengthening community action” mechanism of the Ottawa Charter for health promotion, and 2) to extract the characteristics and key components of the indexes/indicators using a scoping review. 
Data source.
In May 2020, the search was conducted across three databases; Medline (via Pub Med), Embase, and Scopus. 
Inclusion and exclusion Criteria.
All primary studies relating to development, identification, and measurement of health promotion indices/indicators associated to the “strengthening community actions” were included. The review articles were excluded.
Data Extraction.
The data were extracted to a data-charting form that was developed by the research team. Two authors reviewed the extracted data.
Data Synthesis
To summarize and report the data, a descriptive numerical analysis, and a narrative descriptive synthesizing approach were used.
Results
In total, 93 study articles were included. A majority of studies (82%) were conducted in developed countries. Different types of recognized indices were categorized into seven groups: social cohesion (n=3), community capacity (n=1), community participation (n=7), social capital (n=6), social network (n=3), social support (n=1), and others (n=5).
Conclusions.
 Having a collection of “strengthening community action” indices/indicators in hand, health policy-makers and health promotion specialists might be able to do their best in considering, selecting, and applying the most appropriate indices/indicators while evaluating community health promotion interventions in different settings.

Indices/Indicators Developed to Evaluate the “Creating Supportive Environments” Mechanism of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion: A Setting-Based Review on Healthy Environment Indices/ Indicators

“…Undeniable connections between human health and the environment constitute the foundation of a socio-ecological approach to health [ 10 ]. According to evidence, the effectiveness and efficiency of health promotion programs could be guaranteed by adopting the mechanisms of the charter [ 11 ], which have not been implemented in health systems as intended [ 9 , 12 , 13 ]. Appropriate evaluation strategies are required to collect evidence on the effectiveness of the programs, recognize strategies to promote the programs and their associated activities, legitimatize the use of resources, and recognize unexpected consequences [ 14 ].…”

“…10) According to evidence, the effectiveness and efficiency of health promotion programs could be guaranteed by adopting the mechanisms of the charter, 11) which have not been implemented in health systems as intended. 9,12,13) Appropriate evaluation strategies are required to collect evidence on the effectiveness of the programs, recognize strategies to promote the programs and their associated activities, legitimatize the use of resources, and recognize unexpected consequences. 14) Hence, to evaluate any health promotion intervention effort, there is a great requirement for a comprehensive set of indices/indicators.…”