The ‘Practice Entrepreneur’ – An Australian case study of a systems thinking inspired health promotion initiative

Dados Bibliográficos

ID22945398
AutoresAndrew Joyce (0000-0003-0430-2324, Swinburne University of Technology, autor correspondente), Celia Green (0000-0003-1616-7334, Australian National University), George Carey (0000-0001-7698-9044, University of Canberra), Eleanor Malbon (0000-0002-6840-498X, University of Canberra)
Ano2017
Volume33
Fascículo4
Páginasdaw102
Data de publicação2017-01-23
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoHealth Promotion International (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0957-4824 • E-ISSN: 1460-2245
EditoraOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/heapro/daw102
PMID28119331
OpenAlexW2580332620
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas5
Referências citadas26

The potential of systems science concepts to inform approaches for addressing complex public health problems, such as obesity prevention, has been attracting significant attention over the last decade. Despite its recent popularity, there are very few studies examining the application of systems science concepts, termed systems thinking, in practice and whether (if at all) it influences the implementation of health promotion in real world settings and in what ways. Healthy Together Victoria (HTV) was based on a systems thinking approach to address obesity prevention alongside other chronic health problems and was implemented across 14 local government areas. This paper examines the experience of practitioners from one of those intervention sites. In-depth interviews with eight practitioners revealed that there was a rigidity with which they had experienced previous health promotion jobs relative to the flexibility and fluidity of HTV. While the health promotion literature does not indicate that health promotion should be overly prescriptive, the experience of these practitioners suggests it is being applied as such in real world settings. Within HTV, asking people to work with 'systems thinking', without giving a prescription about what systems thinking is, enabled practitioners to be 'practice entrepreneurs' by choosing from a variety of systems thinking methods (mapping, reflection) to engage actively in their positions. This highlights the importance of understanding how key concepts, both traditional planning approaches and systems science concepts, are interpreted and then implemented in real world settings.

Flexibility (engineering) · Health promotion · Management · Political science · Politics · Popularity · Promotion (chess) · Public health · Public relations · Systems thinking · Variety (cybernetics) · Community Health and Development · Computer Science · Health Policy Implementation Science · Medicine · Nursing · Primary Care and Health Outcomes · Psychology · Social Psychology