title: Using Participatory Action Research to build Healthy Communities.
abstract: The author contends that community-based Participatory Action Research (PAR) is ideally suited for use in Healthy Communities projects. The article begins by defining PAR and its principles and characteristics, then discusses the philosophical and methodological compatibility of PAR and Healthy Communities. After highlighting the challenges of expanding the Healthy Communities accent on participation to include PAR, the article describes the experiences of two Healthy Communities projects in the US that have successfully used PAR.
authors.affiliation: Health and Social Behavior, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley 94720-7360, USA. mink@uclink4.berkeley.edu
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Minkler
mesh_terms: D002140:California; D018672:Community Health Planning / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003256:Community Participation; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D006265:Health Care Coalitions / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D014481:United States; D014861:Washington