Indices and Indicators Developed to Evaluate the 'Strengthening Community Actions' Mechanism of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion: A Scoping Review

Objective To determine 1) the indexes/indicators used for evaluating the “strengthening community actions” mechanism of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion and 2) to extract the characteristics and key components of the indexes/indicators using a scoping review. Data Source:In May 2020, the search was conducted across three databases: Medline (via PubMed), Embase, and Scopus. Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria: All primary studies relating to development, identification, and measurement of health promotion indices/indicators associated to the “strengthening community actions” were included. The review articles were excluded. Data Extraction The data were extracted to a data-charting form that was developed by the research team. Two authors reviewed the extracted data. Data Synthesis To summarize and report the data, a descriptive numerical analysis and a narrative descriptive synthesizing approach were used. Results In total, 93 study articles were included. A majority of studies (82%) were conducted in developed countries. Different types of recognized indices were categorized into seven groups: social cohesion (n = 3), community capacity (n = 1), community participation (n = 7), social capital (n = 6), social network (n = 3), social support (n = 1), and others (n = 5). Conclusions Having a collection of “strengthening community actions” indices/indicators in hand, health policymakers and health promotion specialists might be able to do their best in considering, selecting, and applying the most appropriate indices/indicators while evaluating community health promotion interventions in different settings.