Videnskab

Fokus: As a response to the complexity of reducing health inequity there has been a rise in community-based health promotion interventions adhering to the principles of complexity thinking. Such interventions often work with adaptive practice and constitute themselves in complex webs of collaborations between multiple stakeholders. However, few efforts have been made to articulate how complexity can be navigated and addressed by stakeholders in practice. This study explores how partners experience and navigate complexity in the partnership behind Tingbjerg Changing Diabetes (TCD), a community-based intervention addressing health and social development in the disadvantaged neighborhood of Tingbjerg in urban Copenhagen. The study provides important insights on the role of context and how it contributes complexity in community-based health promotion.

Fokus: Research has shown that community participation in health programmes is vital to ensure positive health outcomes and sustainable solutions. This is often challenged by difficulties to engage socially disadvantaged population groups. Through ethnographic fieldwork in a community initiative in a disadvantaged neighbourhood in Copenhagen, Denmark, we explored which factors contributed to a conducive environment for participation. Data material consists of observation notes taken during fieldwork in a community hub from January 2020 until August 2021 and 19 semi-structured interviews with professional stakeholders and participants. We applied the analytical concept of space to elucidate how the organizational, social, and physical environments played important roles in ensuring possibilities for participation. We termed these environments Spaces of Participation. Our results highlight the importance of ensuring spaces that are flexible, informal, and responsive when engaging those who are hard to reach.

Fokus: The article presents Project Sol, and how this Community-Based, Participatory, Multi-Component Intervention Increased Sales of Healthy Foods in Local Supermarkets. The intervention was based on the supersetting approach and was designed to promote healthier eating and physical activity among children and their families. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of a multi-component intervention (level 1) and a mass media intervention alone (level 2) compared to a control area (level 3) on food sales. The design was quasi-experimental. This study demonstrated significant increases in the sales of healthy foods, both in the areas with multi-component and mass media interventions alone compared to the control area.

Fokus: The article presents a follow-up study of a multi-component community-driven health promotion intervention in Denmark. The study examines the perceptions and actions of professional stakeholders 3 years after completion of a 19 months intervention period addressing healthy living, well-being and social engagement among families with young children living in three rural communities on the Danish island of Bornholm. The intervention was implemented within the framework of Project Health and Local Community, also referred to as Project SoL. Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with diverse professional stakeholders of the project.

Fokus: Type 2 diabetes is an escalating public health problem closely related to socioeconomic position. There is increased risk of type 2 diabetes in disadvantaged neighbourhoods where education, occupation and income levels are low. Meanwhile, studies show positive health outcomes of participatory community interventions pointing towards the need for increased health promotion and prevention of type 2 diabetes in local communities. This study protocol describes Tingbjerg Changing Diabetes (TCD), a community-based health promotion and type 2 diabetes prevention initiative in Tingbjerg, a disadvantaged neighbourhood in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Fokus: Focusing on a family cooking class program, this study addresses how community initiatives engaging parents and children together can contribute to integrating parenting support with local health promotion. The study found that visual, practical and sensory learning techniques, applied in a context-sensitive learning environment that ensured guidance, safety and a friendly social atmosphere, contributed to positive parent–child interaction and bonding. The cooking program facilitated parenting practices that support child involvement and autonomy. Thus, the program constituted an effective intervention to strengthen parent–child relationships and positive parenting.

Fokus: Initiativet Integreret Diabetesintervention i Tingbjerg beskriver en helhedsorienteret indsats for styrkelse af udsatte borgeres motivation og mulighed for at deltage i diabetesrelaterede indsatser i nærområdet. Indsatsen indbefatter forebyggelse og sundhedsfremme, tidlig og aktiv opsporing, samt professionel håndholdt støtte til deltagelse i komplikationsscreening og behandling for diabetes. Initiativet bygger på et partnerskab mellem centrale aktører i boligområdet og kommunen. Partnerskabet vil sikre, at der ydes støtte fra boligsociale medarbejdere og kommunale sundhedsvejledere til forbedring af mødet med borgerne og til styrkelse af brobygningen mellem boligområdet og sundhedssystemet.

Fokus: Novo Nordisk has launched the initiative Cities Changing Diabetes (CCD) to try to counter the rise in diabetes, specifically focused on the growing urban populations around the world. The aim of CCD is three-fold: First, the aim of the “Mapping”-phase is to conduct a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the epidemiology of diabetes and its correlated vulnerable populations. Second, the aim
of the “Sharing”-phase is that learning gained from the mapping will be used to build understanding both within and between the five focus cities. Finally, the aim of the “Action”-phase is to develop Action Plans in each of the focus cities in collaboration with local policy-makers, authorities, private and voluntary sector stakeholders, and based on these plans to initiate interventions and policies.

Fokus: This report addresses the social and structural environments of selected neighbourhoods in Copenhagen as perceived by socially active representatives of socially vulnerable population groups. Emphasis is on the degree to which the social and structural environments are conducive for social engagement and healthy living. The study was carried out within the framework of Cities Changing Diabetes (CCD) and contributes to the establishment of a CCD knowledge base on barriers and opportunities for interventions addressing the escalating problem of urban diabetes within CCD partner cities, including Copenhagen.

Fokus: The supersetting approach is a relevant and useful conceptual framework for developing intervention-based initiatives for sustainable impact in community health promotion. It strives to attain synergistic effects from activities that are carried out in multiple settings in a coordinated manner. The supersetting approach is based on ecological and whole-systems thinking, and stipulates important principles and values of integration, participation, empowerment, context and knowledge-based development.