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The role of organisational resources for integrating health surveillance data into municipal action in Norway.

Authors :
Schou, Arild
Hofstad, Hege
Monkerud, Lars
Source :
International Journal of Health Promotion & Education; May2023, Vol. 61 Issue 3, p140-153, 14p
Publication Year :
2023

Abstract

Making sure that health surveillance data are integrated into public health planning and decision-making is demanding. Politicians and their administration may lack knowledge, interest, or will to take it into account. Politics is at its core solution-driven, and this need for imminent action may outweigh the importance of solid knowledge. This paper focuses on Norwegian municipalities and fleshes out two factors that may provide an enabling environment for educating relevant personnel in health surveillance data; i) the existence of a public health coordinator and ii) the set-up of inter-sectoral working groups. We have anticipated that those organisational resources play an important role in linking the bodies of information provided in the municipalities' health surveillance document ; the municipal health profile ; and the health promotion priorities. The findings confirm the anticipated centrality of organisational resources. Having dedicated and inter-sectoral organizational resources working as boundary spanners – such as public health coordinators – is decisive to meeting the demands of current public health challenges. Moreover, dedication is useless unless there is a critical volume of the coordinator's work. It is only when she/he is in a full position that the profile is fully integrated. The study further identifies other conducive conditions for integration. For example, does knowledge on health determinants resides not only in statistical data, but also in qualitative experiences of people and professional practitioners. Of interest for further research is to explore how to educate such organisations to integrate such experiences into health promotion action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
14635240
Volume :
61
Issue :
3
Database :
Complementary Index
Journal :
International Journal of Health Promotion & Education
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
164312185
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1080/14635240.2022.2107556