Suggestions for the Use of Participatory Research Principles in Health Promotion Consulting

L.W. Green, M.A. George, M. Daniel, C.J. Frankish, C.P. Herbert, W.R. Bowie, M. O'Neill, (1995), Study of Participatory Research in Health Promotion. Royal Society of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, pp 43-50.

Instructions

This is a modification of the participatory research page, which in turn, was created from the original article above. The goal is to move toward a greater degree of client involvement in health promotion consulting. Successful utilization of this process should allow the client to continue with lifestyle change without the constant participation of the consultant. For each of the following questions, critically evaluate how well your intervention rates.

Guidelines

1. Clients and the nature of their involvement

Is the client and his/her problem clearly described or defined?

Does the client have an identified concern or experience with the problem?

Is the client provided opportunities to participate in the consulting process?

Is attention given to the client's barriers to participation?

Has attention been given to ensuring that the client understands the consultant's commitment to his/her problem?

Is the client enabled to contribute his/her physical and/or intellectual resources to the solution of the problem?

2. Origin of the lifestyle intervention

Did the impetus for the program come from the client?

Are your efforts to design a program supported by the client?

3. Purpose of the program

Can the program intervention facilitate the client's learning about individual and collective resources for self-determination?

Can the program facilitate collaboration between the client and other community resources?

Is the primary purpose of the program to empower the client to address his/her determinants of health?

Does the scope of the program encompass some combination of political, social and economic determinants of health?

4. Process and context-methodological considerations

Does the program apply the knowledge of the client in the phases of planning, implementation and evaluation?

For the client, does the process allow for learning about lifestyle programming?

For the consultant, does the process allow for learning about the community health issue?

Does the process allow for flexibility or change in program methods and focus, as necessary?

Are procedures in place for appraising experiences during implementation of the program?

Is the client involved in analytic issues: interpretation, synthesis and the verification of conclusions?

5. Opportunities to address the issue of interest

Is the potential of the client's learning reflected by the program process?

Is the potential of the client for personal, self-directed action reflected by the program?

Does the process reflect a commitment by the consultant and the client to social, individual or cultural actions consequent to the learning acquired through the program?

6. Nature of the program outcomes

Does the client benefit from the program outcomes?

Is there attention to, or an explicit agreement for acknowledging and resolving in a fair and open way any differences between the consultant and the client in the interpretation of the program results?

Is there attention to, or an explicit agreement between the consultant and client with respect to ownership of the program data?

Is there attention to, or an explicit agreement between the consultant and the client with respect to the dissemination of the program results?

Last Revised: October 6, 2009 0:05 AM