Community organizing and community health: piloting an innovative approach to community engagement applied to an early intervention project in south London.
BACKGROUND
The importance of community engagement in health is widely recognized, and key themes in UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommendations for enhancing community engagement are co-production and community control. This study reports an innovative approach to community engagement using the community-organizing methodology, applied in an intervention of social support to increase social capital, reduce stress and improve well-being in mothers who were pregnant and/or with infants aged 0-2 years.


METHODS
Professional community organizers in Citizens-UK worked with local member civic institutions in south London to facilitate social support to a group of 15 new mothers. Acceptability of the programme, adherence to principles of co-production and community control, and changes in the outcomes of interest were assessed quantitatively in a quasi-experimental design.


RESULTS
The programme was found to be feasible and acceptable to participating mothers, and perceived by them to involve co-production and community control. There were no detected changes in subjective well-being, but there were important reductions in distress on a standard self-report measure (GHQ-12). There were increases in social capital of a circumscribed kind associated with the project.


CONCLUSIONS
Community organizing provides a promising model and method of facilitating community engagement in health.
Citizens UK, London E1 2JA, UK.
Matthew
M
Bolton
Citizens UK, London E1 2JA, UK.
Imogen
I
Moore
Citizens UK, London E1 2JA, UK.
Ana
A
Ferreira
Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London SE5 8AF, UK.
Crispin
C
Day
Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London SE5 8AF, UK.
Derek
D
Bolton
D000328:Adult; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003256:Community Participation / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008131:London; D008427:Maternal Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011247:Pregnancy; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
communities; social determinants