Community Health Initiatives
Intergenerational LGBT Practice: Building Bridges to Wellness
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Justine McGovern, Mohan Vinjamuri, Porsha Hall, Lisa Sloan
This paper reports on an intergenerational project with LGBTQ participants from a Social Work practice perspective. The workshop consisted of five two-hour sessions during which participants engaged in small-group discussions and activities to explore how they envisioned their futures with the goal of promoting wellness, social support and community safety for all residents. Bringing together participants of different age groups to explore future planning, the intergenerational workshop provided an opportunity for participants to create sustaining social bonds across generations, which contribute to improved global wellness among members of socially excluded communities, such as LGBTQ-identified persons of all ages. Social connectedness across the lifespan has been shown to improve individual and community wellness by reducing social isolation and enhancing social engagement. Further, by including an advocacy component reaching helping professionals and community residents, the project raised awareness about LGBTQ realities, which contributes to reducing age and sexual orientation related biases among service providers and community members. The project therefore has implications not only for participants, but also for service provision to diverse clients and community safety for vulnerable persons. Further, the project contributed to reducing knowledge gaps by producing new scholarship and identifying areas in need of future inquiry.
Exploring the Relationship between Opportunities for Healthier Activities in Multifamily Housing and Actual Occupant Use for Health
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jinoh Park, Margaret Van Bakergem, Xi Wang, Aaron Hipps, Traci Rider
As the increase of public interest in health and wellness, industries have put health concepts into their businesses to attract people. In the multifamily housing industry, developers have efforted to offer occupants opportunities for healthier activities and building healthier lifestyles through the whole development process. To support the developers by designating healthier activities with references, there are institutes for health and wellbeing International Well Building Institute, The Fitwell System, and The Living Future Institute. In this situation, this research evaluates the multifamily housing developments for occupant’s health and wellness by comparing opportunities for healthier activities with actual engagement in the healthier activities by occupants. To evaluate the effectiveness of development, this paper investigates the opportunities for healthier activities in indoors and outdoors, then evaluate them by the criteria of institutes for health and wellness. To assess the effectiveness of development, this paper surveys the occupants in the multifamily housing about the actual usages of opportunities.
Stakeholder Engagement in Health Policy and Service Delivery: An Empirical Study on Clinical and Health Networks
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ana Rita Sequeira
Chronic complex diseases, population ageing and the rise of healthcare expenditure are wicket challenges that stress the need for reform in the health services provision. The coordination and integration of care alongside with a patient-centred care are amply present in the health policy discourse but often overlooked in health service management and delivery. Stakeholders’ engagement and consumers’ committees are strategies meant to convene with these complexities by integrating a diverse range of experiences, but how representative are their views, and how influential they can be in health provision reform? This paper draws on a qualitative research conducted among various Clinical and Health Networks, devoted to policy development in the Western Australian Department of Health. It looked into the stakeholder engagement strategies and a distinct level of participation by its members. The study concluded the effectiveness of the Networks policy outcomes is influenced by the quality and extent of engagement processes with key stakeholders; especially decision makers and service providers responsible for the implementation of policy, clinicians, and the ultimate users of services (consumers and carers). Effective stakeholder engagement leads to greater "buy-in" from consumers, carers, clinicians and others parties involved in health service delivery. It enables access to expertise and knowledge during policy development processes. Stakeholder disinterest in externally determined priorities can lead to a low level of involvement, collaboration, dissemination, and implementation. The authors suggest recommendations to improve stakeholders’ engagement and policy effectiveness.
Community Perspectives on Sustainable Urban Neighborhoods for Active Living in a Metropolitan City
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Seunghyun Yoo
Active living is promoted for health in all ages and public health efforts pay attention to facilitators and barriers influencing active living. Neighborhood-level qualitative studies are advantageous to explore community characteristics specific to their active living. This study compiled and organized multiple neighborhood studies to identify community characteristics associated with active urban living in a metropolitan city. We reviewed five community studies (over 200 participants) conducted in Seoul, Korea, since 2011 that employed multiple qualitative methods to explore community attributes conducive to active living. Data collection methods applied included photovoice, photo elicitation interviewing, walk-along interviewing, walking tours, mapping, and focus groups. Thematic analysis results of five communities studies were compiled and organized. Overall, perceived environmental characteristics were influential on active living, particularly in terms of perceived walkability and perceived usability of urban resources beyond the actual availability of resources. Urban community lifestyle in Seoul was characterized by high-rise apartment housing, public transportation, and compact design with close proximity to community amenities. Communities were experiencing issues of sharing space and resources in dense urban neighborhoods among residents in different life stages. Urban planning that lacked incorporating the outlook for demographic and life course changes could lead to community concerns about and conflicts with sharing space and resources for active living. Attitudes towards and experience of being engaged in community organization and urban governance varied. Building interdisciplinary approaches and intersectoral collaboration with communities are pivotal for developing sustainable urban neighborhoods for active living.
