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Participatory approaches in health promotion and health planning: A literature review

CONTENTS

Acknowledgement                                   

iv

Foreword   

vii

Executive summary   

 ix

Abbreviations   

xii

Glossary   

xiii

1. Introduction   

1

Background   

1

The context   

2

Explanations for health inequalities   

5

History of health policies in the United Kingdom   

7

Scope of review and methodology

9

References 

10

2. Definitions of community participation   

12

Summary   

12

Defining community   

12

Defining community participation   

13

Critical questions   

15

Conclusion   

17

References   

17

3. Theoretical constructs of community participation   

18

Summary 

18

Theoretical constructs 

18

Introduction 

18

Community development   

19

People's participation   

22

Empowerment   

25

Action research  

27

Methodological issues for participatory approaches   

29

Critical questions for translating theoretical constructs into   

32

theories for practice     
How is community participation analysed?   

32

What factors influence participation?   

38

How do we evaluate participation?   

40

Conclusion   

45

References   

45

4. Applications, methods and tools   

49

Summary   

49

Applications   

49

Participatory action research 

50

Rapid appraisals   

54

Methods   

57

Tools   

59

Introduction to visualisations   

59

Mapping   

60

Ranking and matrices 

65

Diagrams   

67

Information pyramid 

70

Visualisation in participatory programmes   

71

Conclusion 

72

References 

72

5. Examples of applications from case studies   

75

Summary   

75

Framework for analysis   

75

Typologies of action research   

78

Examples of experimental action research   

78

Examples o f organisational action research  

81

Examples of professionalising action research   

85

Examples o f empowering action research   

87

A note on UK case studies 

95

Conclusion 

95

References 

96

6. Assessment of contributions and challenges of participatory approaches   

98

Summary 

98

Contributions 

98

Challenges   

100

Ways forward for programme development   

103

Project preparation 

103

Project design 

103

Power and control   

105
References  106
Appendices  
A. Guidelines for assessing participatory action research  108

B. A brief review of core qualitative methods  

110
C. How to use the most popular visualisation tools 114
D. Methodology of literature review 

121

E. UK networks   

123

F. Books on participatory approaches

125