“We Don’t Assume That Everyone Has the Same Idea About Health, Do We?” Explorative Study of Citizens’ Perceptions of Health and Participation to Improve Their Health in a Low Socioeconomic City District

Abstract

<jats:p>In community health promotion programs that aim to reduce health inequities, citizen participation is recommended, as it strengthens citizens’ active involvement and has a positive impact on health. A prerequisite for citizen participation is recognizing and incorporating citizens’ perceptions of health. Therefore, this study aimed to explore these perceptions and actions needed to improve the health of citizens living in a low socioeconomic city district. Concept mapping was used to actively engage community members as part of the action research method. Eleven community groups (n = 89 citizens) together with community workers participated in the study. Participants in all groups agreed that health entails more than the absence of disease, and therefore it is a multidimensional concept. Social relations, physical activity, positive life attitude, healthy eating, and being in control were important perceptions about health. Although the participants were aware of the relation between lifestyle and health, actions to improve health included doing things together, collaboration, self-confidence, focusing on possibilities, and socially shared meanings. Creating a supportive environment to address health behavior appeared to be the most important action for citizens to facilitate behavior change. Concept mapping helped to involve citizens and provided community workers with valuable information to shape the program together with citizens.</jats:p>

‘Improving Health through Reducing Stress’: Parents’ Priorities in the Participatory Development of a Multilevel Family Health Programme in a Low-Income Neighbourhood in The Netherlands

“…This study can be characterised as community-based participatory action research (PAR), a well-proven method to facilitate community engagement [19,21,23]. In this study, PAR was combined with intervention mapping (IM) [8].…”

“…Thus, when a multilevel health intervention is being developed, one of the urgent questions is how to bring different perceptions of disadvantaged groups and professionals together in a plan and how to incorporate these perceptions in the selection of objectives and activities. Disadvantaged groups' perceptions of their individual health have been described [21,22]. However, in line with the socio-ecological perspective, individual health is also influenced by factors at family and community level [13].…”

Process evaluation of the ‘Grip on Health’ intervention in general and occupational health practice

“…According to a Dutch study, an estimated 13% of the population in the Netherlands suffers from multi-domain problems, versus 19% of people with a lower SEP [ 4 ]. Tackling problems on only one life domain is therefore often insufficient for the effective treatment of health complaints for this group of patients [ 2 , 5 , 6 ]. At the same time, lower SEP patients experience a lower ‘health literacy’; that is, they seem to have less “knowledge, motivation, and competences to access, understand, appraise, and apply health information in everyday life to make decisions regarding healthcare, disease prevention, and health promotion” [ 7 ].…”

“…Instead of viewing health as solely the absence of symptoms or illness, such a broader perspective fits with Huber et al’s [ 10 , 11 ] perception of ‘Positive Health’ as involving six dimensions: bodily functions, mental well-being, daily functioning, participation, quality of life and meaningfulness. Lower SEP patients seem to prefer a multidimensional perspective on health [ 6 , 12 , 13 ]. Globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) sees focusing on multi-domain problems as the task of both healthcare settings: primary health care “addresses the broader determinants of health and focuses on the comprehensive and interrelated aspects of physical, mental and social health and wellbeing” [ 8 , 14 ] while occupational health “is an area of work in public health to promote and maintain highest degree of physical, mental and social well-being of workers in all occupations” [ 15 ].…”

How Do Environmental Concerns and Governance Performance Affect Public Environmental Participation: A Case Study of Waste Sorting in Urban China

“…In developing countries such as China, the start of public participation is regarded as an important transitional point of urban environmental governance [ 8 ]. Both the government and scholars believe that public participation can complement the traditional state-led model of environmental protection [ 9 ] and can respond in a timely manner to a variety of urban ecological problems [ 10 ]. Moreover, active communities can cultivate residents’ sense of identity [ 11 ] and achieve successful collective actions [ 12 ].…”