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Can a community development model be used for health programmes in an industrialized country?
Author(s) -
Bjaras Gunilla
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
the international journal of health planning and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.672
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1099-1751
pISSN - 0749-6753
DOI - 10.1002/hpm.4740060305
Subject(s) - intervention (counseling) , community organization , public relations , local community , public health , business , community development , community health , political science , economic growth , public administration , medicine , nursing , law , economics
Injury resulting from accident is a serious public health problem in Sweden, as it is in the rest of the world. Theoretically, almost all incidents can be prevented. However, in practice, injury‐prevention is a complex problem. A community‐level intervention programme for prevention of accidents was developed in the municipality of Sollentuna, Stockholm County. The primary strategy has been to involve the community through representatives as well as through local organizations and groups. Project organization has been built up in cooperation with the municipal primary health‐care department, local authorities, voluntary organizations and citizen agencies. A common opinion is that it is the actual process in a community programme which is important, that alters the type of involvement from a ‘top‐down’ to a ‘bottom‐up’ approach. Can a local community take over responsibility for running such a programme which has been initiated by an external authority or organization? We think that, at least for Swedish circumstances, the community development approach is far too optimistic in its expectation that community members should and can stay actively involved in programme decisions. Based on our experience, it does not seem possible to maintain a broad self‐sustained programme solely with input from community members.