Concluding Project:

Participation and Health. Involvement in Decision-Making as a Matter for Health Research

The work of the Public Health Research Group comes to an end in May 2012, with the Participation and Health Project providing a fitting conclusion. The complex relationships between participation and health have played an important role in all the research group’s projects over more than twenty years. This project highlights the thematic connections and develops the theory in a practically relevant form.

Understanding participation as individual or collective involvement in decision-making concerning the individual’s own health, lifestyle and social, economic and political situation, the project investigates the hypothesis that participation in these personally relevant decisions has an influence on a person’s health (health resources and health and life opportunities). This assumption forms the basis of many theoretical concepts and of practice in many spheres of life, and certainly applies to prevention and health promotion, medical treatment, rehabilitation and nursing care. The research project is investigating the theoretical connections between participation and health and exploring their practical relevance.

The project will produce volume of essays, which will be presented on 22 and 23 March 2012 at the concluding conference on Participation and Health at WZB. In it, authors from different disciplines will explore theoretical frameworks, empirical results and positive and negative conditions for health-related participation in decision-making and produce practically relevant guidance for new forms of participation, for shaping health interventions and for the difficult road to lived participation. The volume will also offer an opportunity to identify open questions for interdisciplinary health research.

Researchers: > Rolf Rosenbrock, > Susanne Hartung

Duration: June 2010 – May 2012