Community development and health promotion in contemporary policy: results from an action-research project in bologna (Italy)

IF 1.2 3区社会学 Q3 DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

Community Development Journal Pub Date : 2023-10-01 DOI:10.1093/cdj/bsad019

Chiara Bodini, Martina Consoloni, Valerio D’Avanzo, Delia Da Mosto, Sara Gerotto, Silvia Giaimo, Francesca Girardi, Leonardo Mammana, Martina Riccio, Matteo Valoncini

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Abstract Bologna, Italy, with its history of good governance, progressive welfare policies, community work, and participation has engendered powerful discourses informing policy and institutional innovation. Yet, a recent city-wide mixed-method action-research (AR) project, designed to document and tackle health inequalities, showed a significant North–South divide for a range of health indicators and an unequal distribution of social determinants of health across the most socio-economically deprived city areas. The AR project also examined the potential of the city’s initiatives for community development and health promotion in addressing health inequalities. In this paper, we focus on a recent institutional innovation called ‘Uffici reti e lavoro di comunità’ (Network and community work units, NCWUs), established by the Bologna municipality in 2016 to promote the decentralization of powers, strengthen community networks, and foster the engagement of citizen organizations in taking care of the material and social living environment. The results of the AR project indicate that the NCWUs, whilst not designed as a policy initiative to reduce (health) inequalities, have a potential to do so by supporting more effective community action to address the determinants driving those inequalities. Through a critical re-thinking of the concepts of power and participation, they also suggest promising directions to overcome some of the limitations of community development approaches in contributing towards greater well-being and equity for people and communities, underlining local learning which could be applied across different geographies nationally and internationally.

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当代政策中的社区发展和健康促进:博洛尼亚行动研究项目的结果(意大利)

意大利博洛尼亚以其良好的治理、进步的福利政策、社区工作和参与的历史产生了强大的话语，为政策和制度创新提供了信息。然而，最近一个旨在记录和解决健康不平等问题的全市混合方法行动研究项目显示，一系列健康指标存在显著的南北差距，健康的社会决定因素在社会经济最贫困的城市地区分布不均。AR项目还审查了该市社区发展和健康促进倡议在解决健康不平等问题方面的潜力。在本文中，我们关注博洛尼亚市政府于2016年建立的一项名为“网络和社区工作单位”(Network and community work units, NCWUs)的制度创新，以促进权力下放，加强社区网络，并促进公民组织参与照顾物质和社会生活环境。AR项目的结果表明，全国妇女保健单位虽然不是作为减少(保健)不平等的政策倡议而设计的，但有可能通过支持更有效的社区行动来解决导致这些不平等的决定因素来实现这一目标。通过对权力和参与概念的批判性重新思考，他们还提出了有希望的方向，以克服社区发展方法在促进人民和社区的更大福祉和公平方面的一些限制，强调可以在国内和国际不同地区应用的当地学习。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Community Development Journal DEVELOPMENT STUDIES-

CiteScore

3.20

自引率

6.70%

发文量

期刊介绍： Since 1966 the leading international journal in its field, covering a wide range of topics, reviewing significant developments and providing a forum for cutting-edge debates about theory and practice. It adopts a broad definition of community development to include policy, planning and action as they impact on the life of communities. We particularly seek to publish critically focused articles which challenge received wisdom, report and discuss innovative practices, and relate issues of community development to questions of social justice, diversity and environmental sustainability.