title: Integrating relationship- and research-based approaches in Australian health promotion practice.
abstract: We examine the perspectives of health promotion practitioners on their approaches to determining health promotion practice, in particular on the role of research and relationships in this process. Using Grounded Theory methods, we analysed 58 semi-structured interviews with 54 health promotion practitioners in New South Wales, Australia. Practitioners differentiated between relationship-based and research-based approaches as two sources of knowledge to guide health promotion practice. We identify several tensions in seeking to combine these approaches in practice and describe the strategies that participants adopted to manage these tensions. The strategies included working in an evidence-informed rather than evidence-based way, creating new evidence about relationship-based processes and outcomes, adopting 'relationship-based' research and evaluation methods, making research and evaluation useful for communities, building research and evaluation skills and improving collaboration between research and evaluation and programme implementation staff. We conclude by highlighting three systemic factors which could further support the integration of research-based and relationship-based health promotion practices: (i) expanding conceptions of health promotion evidence, (ii) developing 'relationship-based' research methods that enable practitioners to measure complex social processes and outcomes and to facilitate community participation and benefit, and (iii) developing organizational capacity.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine, Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Sydney NSW 2006, Australia.
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Klinner
authors.affiliation: Centre for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine, Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Sydney NSW 2006, Australia.
authors.forename: Stacy M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Carter
authors.affiliation: Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Sydney NSW 2006, Australia.
authors.forename: Lucie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rychetnik
authors.affiliation: Centre for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine, Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Sydney NSW 2006, Australia.
authors.forename: Vincy
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: National Heart Foundation of Australia (NSW Division), Sydney NSW 2011, Australia.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Daley
authors.affiliation: Health Promotion Unit, Northern New South Wales Local Health District, Lismore, NSW 2480, Australia.
authors.forename: Avigdor
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zask
authors.affiliation: Formerly Northern Sydney Central Coast Health Promotion Service, The Lodge, Macquarie Hospital, North Ryde, NSW 2113, Australia.
authors.forename: Beverly
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lloyd
mesh_terms: D003256:Community Participation; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D066296:Grounded Theory; D006291:Health Policy; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D009517:New South Wales; D015397:Program Evaluation; D036301:Qualitative Research; D035844:Researcher-Subject Relations; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
keywords: community participation; health promotion practice; qualitative research; research and evaluation