Using tools to support participation and intersectoral work in community health promotion
Abstract
Issue/problem: Tools in community health promotion are step‑by‑step guides, instruments, or resources that enable practitioners to assess needs, co-design, implement or evaluate a health programme. Especially participatory and intersectoral tools can help practitioners to engage relevant stakeholders and community members during their programme. Various health promotion pilot projects are to be supported by tools within this project.
Description of the problem: To provide pilot implementors with tools, a systematic literature research is carried out in scientific databases, public health websites and via desk research. Tools are systematically collected for all stages of the health promotion methodology, with a focus on participatory and intersectoral tools. Suitable tools are selected based on criteria such as comprehensibility, generalizability and no need of resources during use. The long‑term aim is to also provide the tools on a platform, so practitioners can quickly find suitable tools at every project stage.
Results: Identified tools so far vary widely in aim, topic, scope, audience, and complexity. Tools covering the aspects of stakeholder identification, needs assessment, prioritization, health asset mapping, and co-creation have been distributed to project partners so far. Various participatory tools have been then applied to engage with local stakeholders and the community. We will present and discuss some examples of tool use in the pilot projects.
Lessons: The tools used were able to support pilot implementers in their health programme. While tools were reported to help facilitate and structure discussions, some tools required individual adaptation before use and others required significant amount of time during application. Local pilot implementers report tools to help facilitate and structure discussions, however, sometimes also requiring a certain time and adaptation effort.
Related
- Y.2.PK.2. Co-creating tools for intersectoral collaboration and citizen engagement in health promotion
- Promoting Community Living and Participation Outcomes Among Young Autistic Adults: Promising Results for an Autistic-Delivered Peer Support Intervention
- How Intersectoral Priority Setting Can Support Action on Social Determinants of Health: A Qualitative Case Study From Pakistan’s Federal Health Ministry
- Societal actors' perceptions of intersectoral collaboration and the participation of older adults in the development of age-friendly environments.
- Supporting Community‐Driven Health Promotion: Insights From a National Best Practice Unit
BibTeX
@article{plantz2026using,
title = {{Using tools to support participation and intersectoral work in community health promotion}},
author = {C Plantz and J Hubrich and R Peiró-Pérez and H Križan and A Dreher},
journal = {The European Journal of Public Health},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.254},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.254},
note = {CC BY-NC 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Using tools to support participation and intersectoral work in community health promotion
AU - C Plantz
AU - J Hubrich
AU - R Peiró-Pérez
AU - H Križan
AU - A Dreher
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - The European Journal of Public Health
DO - 10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.254
UR - https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.254
AB - Issue/problem: Tools in community health promotion are step‑by‑step guides, instruments, or resources that enable practitioners to assess needs, co-design, implement or evaluate a health programme. Especially participatory and intersectoral tools can help practitioners to engage relevant stakeholders and community members during their programme. Various health promotion pilot projects are to be supported by tools within this project. Description of the problem: To provide pilot implementors with tools, a systematic literature research is carried out in scientific databases, public health websites and via desk research. Tools are systematically collected for all stages of the health promotion methodology, with a focus on participatory and intersectoral tools. Suitable tools are selected based on criteria such as comprehensibility, generalizability and no need of resources during use. The long‑term aim is to also provide the tools on a platform, so practitioners can quickly find suitable tools at every project stage. Results: Identified tools so far vary widely in aim, topic, scope, audience, and complexity. Tools covering the aspects of stakeholder identification, needs assessment, prioritization, health asset mapping, and co-creation have been distributed to project partners so far. Various participatory tools have been then applied to engage with local stakeholders and the community. We will present and discuss some examples of tool use in the pilot projects. Lessons: The tools used were able to support pilot implementers in their health programme. While tools were reported to help facilitate and structure discussions, some tools required individual adaptation before use and others required significant amount of time during application. Local pilot implementers report tools to help facilitate and structure discussions, however, sometimes also requiring a certain time and adaptation effort.
SN - 1101-1262
SN - 1464-360X
ER -