Community partnerships can lead to better health says lecturer

Community partnerships can lead to overall better health, providing the state and local people are committed to them, a University of Ulster lecturer has said.

In her report entitled, A Partnership Approach to Health Promotion: a Case Study from Northern Ireland, Dr Deirdre Heenan, Senior Lecturer from the Faculty of Social Sciences, says local communities can be empowered by community-based health promotion projects.

“In recent years there has been a renewal of interest in community development and partnership approaches in the delivery of health and social services in Northern Ireland," she said.

“It is widely accepted that traditional individualistic methods of health care delivery have failed to effectively tackle inequalities.”

Dr Heenan’s research is based on a case study of a community health partnership in the Creggan area of Derry City. She attributes the success of this local partnership to the continuing and increasing involvement of local people.

“Training local people to facilitate courses and programmes is an integral part of the Creggan Health Information Project and has led to increased levels of self-confidence and self-belief.

“The sense of ownership of the process of health promotion has encouraged and promoted a belief that health awareness can positively influence communities.

“This project provides evidence of how local people can actually be encouraged to take control of their lives. It demonstrates that professional boundaries can be crossed, and a more open, flexible approach to health and social needs can be adopted,” she said.

Dr Heenan called on health promoters in the community to recognise that the community’s greatest resource for health are its members.

"The process of building a partnership can be time-consuming, demanding high levels of commitment, therefore its is crucial that those involved feel that their input is acknowledged and valued.

“The government’s commitment to community development is meaningless rhetoric unless it is supported by education programmes, research, training, resources and long term commitments. If it is to be an effective, vibrant, creative method of engagement, community development must be embedded in the planning and delivery of services, and not an isolated marginal activity driven by committed individuals," she concluded.

(MB)