Integrating social theory into public health practice.
The innovative practice that resulted from the Ottawa Charter challenges public health knowledge about programming and evaluation. Specifically, there is a need to formulate program theory that embraces social determinants of health and local actors' mobilization for social change. Likewise, it is imperative to develop a theory of evaluation that fosters reflexive understanding of public health programs engaged in social change. We believe advances in contemporary social theory that are founded on a critique of modernity and that articulate a coherent theory of practice should be considered when addressing these critical challenges.
Potvin
Louise
L
Lea-Roback Centre for Research on Social Health Inequalities, Montreal, QC, Canada. louise.potvin@umontreal.ca
Gendron
Sylvie
S
Bilodeau
Angèle
A
Chabot
Patrick
P
D014943:Global Health; D006291:Health Policy; D006292:Health Priorities / Q000458:organization & administration; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D015980:Public Health Practice; D012942:Social Sciences