Health promotion seeding grants: reality testing?

Issues addressed Factors supporting and constraining the ability of health service workers to incorporate health promotion into their work. Method The South East Health Seeding Grants Program offered funding as a way of encouraging health services to engage in health promotion. The program strategies and evaluation were informed by NSW Health's ‘Framework for building capacity to improve health’ and targeted seeding grant project staff and their managers. Evaluation used pre‐ and post‐intervention open‐ended, one‐to‐one semi‐structured interviews as the main source of information. Results The seeding grant projects were broadly supported by health services' business plans but not written into them. Project staff who were involved in clinical care were required to give clients priority over the project. Those without a caseload could give the project priority when needed. Implementation generated additional work and required more resources than anticipated. Project outcomes were affected by workers' skills in health promotion. The program provided opportunities for health service staff to learn about health promotion, but exposure and experience were limited. Conclusions Seeding grants can create opportunities for developing relationships with health services. Project staff's ability to step outside their core business and undertake health promotion is limited and depends on their professional role and work focus. The process of building capacity requires an understanding of barriers faced by health services workers, resource requirements and a strategic approach and a long time frame. So what? Successful capacity building requires an appraisal of factors affecting workers' ability to undertake health promotion and a long‐term strategic approach.