The Nature Of Community Participation In Municipal Public Health Planning In Queensland

Abstract : Community participation is recognised as an important element of creating healthier communities and a key factor for the success of collaborative approaches to health and sustainability planning. The many benefits communities can gain from participating in health project planning and implementation include increasing awareness and knowledge in health; improving communication, network, and environment; making services more appropriate to needs; and putting pressure to governments to be more responsive to inequalities. The contemporary debate is not about whether or not community participation is important; rather, it is concerning the different interpretations of the nature participation and its ideal forms or levels. It is the aim of this study to clarify definitions and concepts fundamental to the understanding of community participation. The literature often refers to hierarchies or continuums of participation, ranking different forms of participation from low level such as community consultation to higher levels such as community involvement, community representation to the highest level, community control. The problem of this depiction is that it can lead to the interpretation that only the topmost option, community control, is ideal and desirable, while in reality different forms of participation would be of value according to the nature and purpose of a project. For professionals dealing with community participation, the varying interpretations of the terminology used has often lead to confusions and frustrations. Efforts to better understand the nature and forms of participation suitable for different contexts are needed to allow for effective matching of community participation to project objectives and conditions. The WHO Healthy City approach advocates community participation in local level public and environmental health planning and practices. In Queensland the Healthy Cities approach has been used to develop a model of municipal public health planning (MPHP) which was adopted by many local governments. This MPHP initiative has provided an opportunity to study community participation in practice in relation to local level public and environmental health planning and management. This research investigates the conceptual issues, perceptions and influencing factors underpinning community participation in MPHP in Queensland. Beyond a literature review, in order to examine in-depth views and experience of MPHP stakeholders, this study employs qualitative research methods mainly involving key informant interviews and case studies. In total, the study conducted thirty-three in-depth semi-structured interviews, with key informants from three MPHP projects in Southeast and Central Queensland.