Project Type

 

QIPPS was originally designed for documenting the planning and evaluation of health promotion and community development projects within the Community Health sector. As its use has been taken up more broadly, the language used within the tool has begun to incorporate terms that are in common usage in other settings and sectors.
 
The following information will assist with assessing whether a project is:
  • Health Promotion or Community Development
  • Secondary Prevention
  • Other
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Project Type: Health Promotion/ Community Development
 
This category describes an approach to working with communities (and populations) that addresses issues which are of greatest concern to those communities. Commonly, these will include a combination of underlying issues (i.e. poverty or inflexible work conditions) as well as the symptoms (i.e. diabetes or depression) and puts those people in charge of the solution (without leaving them with the responsibility for the solution).
 
Health Promotion is described in the Ottawa Charter (World Health Organisation, 1986) as

…the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health. To reach a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing, an individual or group must be able to identify and to realise aspirations, to satisfy needs, and to change or cope with the environment. Health is, therefore, seen as a resource for everyday life, not the objective of living. Health is a positive concept emphasising social and personal resources, as well as physical capacities. Therefore, health promotion is not just the responsibility of the health sector, but goes beyond healthy lifestyles to wellbeing.
 
 
 In 1997, at the Jakarta conference, WHO added the following:
Prerequisites for health are peace, shelter, education, social security, social relations, food, income, empowerment of women, a stable eco-system, sustainable resources use, social justice, respect for human rights and equity. Above all, poverty is the greatest threat to health. (WHO, Jakarta, 1997)
In 2005, the Bangkok Charter then called for strong political action to achieve a healthier world – urging United Nations organisations to explore the benefits of developing and implementing a Global treaty for Health. The new Charter proposes the following actions:
  • advocate for health based on human rights and solidarity
  • invest in sustainable policies, actions and infrastructure to address the determinants of health
  • building capacity for policy development, leadership, health promotion practice, knowledge transfer and research, and health literacy
  • regulate and legislate to ensure a high level of protection from harm and enable equal opportunity for health and wellbeing for all people
  • partner and build alliances with public, private, non-governmental and international organisations and civil society to create sustainable actions.
 
Community development can be defined as:
…work with communities to address issues of concern to them, and that people in the community drive the processes to address their perception of community needs. The underpinning values are of participation, empowerment and democracy and the role of the worker is facilitation.
 
Bullen, P. (2003). Management Alternatives for Human Services http://www.mapl.com.au/ComDev.htm
 
The following questions may additionally be useful.
 
  1. Is this based on accepted health promotion principles?
    • Address the broader determinants of health which indicate that health is influenced by political, social, economic and environmental factor.
    • Base activities on the best available data and evidence both with respect to why there is a need for action on a health/social issue area and what is most likely to effect sustainable change.
    • Act to reduce social inequities and injustice, helping to ensure every individual, family and community group may benefit from living, learning and working in a health promoting environment.
    • Emphasise active consumer and community participation in a way that encourages people to have more control over their own lives.
    • Empower individuals.
    • Explicitly consider difference in gender and culture, recognising that gender and culture lie at the heart of the way in which health beliefs and behaviours are developed and transmitted.
    • Facilitate intersectoral cooperation – build on the capacity of a wide range of sectors to deliver quality integrated health promotion programs.
  2. Does it include strategies or interventions that aim to impact on both individuals and populations? This generally means that activities are broadly accessible to the target group(s), not just to individuals registered with the service and means there may be activities that will bring about positive health benefits for people who may never be seen by the service.
 
The following summary of Community Development further describes what we mean by Community Development:
Community Development is based on an understanding of these inequities (in the health of different groups within our society). People's health experiences are seen within the context of their social relationships. In this framework, alienation and powerlessness are identified as being linked to poorer health outcomes; having a sense of not belonging to the broader society, a sense of not having much control over one's destiny....and...a developmental approach involves working in ways that facilitate people and communities developing their strength and confidence while at the same time addressing immediate problems. The core values in Community Development are equity and social justice. Importantly, this means social justice and health, not just social justice for health. (Butler & Cass, 1993).
 
Further information around health promotion planning and planning for evaluation can be found in the Integrated Health Promotion – a Practise Guide for Service Providers.
 
Sections 1 & 2
The introduction and Victorian Policy Context
Section 3
Includes the Key Determinants, risk and protective factors as well as links with the International context.
Section 4
Covers the planning and reporting framework which community health funded organisations in Victoria are required to utilise to report on use of health promotion funds.
Section 5
Covers the five health promotion intervention categories
Section 6
Covers evaluation and dissemination
 
 
EQUIHP is an instrument for quality development and assurance of health promotion projects. It is a combination of a checklist to assess the quality of health promotion projects, and a set of guidelines to improve their quality. It builds on the experience with existing quality assurance tools that are used in a number of European countries, representing a European-wide consensus regarding the main quality criteria for health promotion projects as contained in these tools.

As an instrument for quality assurance, EQUIHP can be used by all health promotion practitioners as well as people involved in the implementation of health promotion interventions (managers of health promotion institutes, researchers, policy makers and funding organisations). The instrument can be used throughout the process of planning, implementing and evaluating a health promotion project.
 
 
Project Type: Secondary Prevention
The goal of secondary prevention is to reduce progression of disease through early detection usually by screening at an asymptomatic stage and early intervention.
 
The Language of Prevention, National Public Health Partnership document regarding primary, secondary and tertiary prevention:
 
Project Type: Other
 
Examples include:
  • Promotion of the organisation and quality improvement for an agency.
  • Workforce Development that is not related to health promotion (i.e. First Aid certification).
  • Organisational development including those programs that do not lead to health outcomes or human resource initiatives (i.e. recruitment).
 
last updated 25.05.09