Pre-conference: Establishing the effectiveness of complex health promotion interventions: shining light on alternatives


Tuesday 12 November, 9:00 – 17:00 Lisbon time (including network lunch)


Organised by

EUPHA Health promotion section, UNESCO Chair Global Health & Education 

Background

A large share of the programmes and policies developed by field workers to cater to the specific needs of local populations are not amenable to the evaluation methods and designs which are typically ranked at the top of the evidence pyramid and usually seek to study only one factor at a time, all other things being equal. This is a major impediment to the development and improvement of local programmes that are accounting for the specific resources and barriers found locally and that adopt a participatory strategy. In this pre-conference, we will reflect on the challenges facing health promotion practitioners and researchers in establishing the effectiveness of their programmes and policies and will explore alternatives to the traditional epistemological and methodological perspectives. Through presentations on the epistemological and methodological perspectives driving new evaluative approaches, discussions on real-life experiences, and small-group activities, this interactive preconference will offer a wealth of ideas and knowledge to public health professionals, researchers and policy makers and provide them with opportunities to build collaborations and expand their networks. Materials presented during this pre-conference and the consensus built among the participants will feed into the writing of a statement to be disseminated through the channels and networks of the organisers. This event is building on the Global Handbook of Health Promotion Research initiated by the UNESCO Chair Global Health & Education.

Download the programme here.

Objectives

At the end of the day, participants will be able to:

  • Identify the main epistemological requirements to establishing the effectiveness of a health promotion programme
  • Appraise the quality of a research design in establishing the proof of effectiveness
  • Define criteria that a programme can achieve to be considered promising
  • Develop a multi-layered body of evidence on the effectiveness of a programme.
  • Argue against views putting RCTs as the only means to make a programme an evidence-based one.
  • Identify and mobilise colleagues from the pre-conference able to support them in their evaluation work
  • Make their voice count in contributing to a statement.

Presenters/moderators

Eric Breton, President of the EUPHA Health promotion section, EHESP School of Public Health, France

Goof Buijs, Manager UNESCO Chair Global Health & Education, The Netherlands

Silvia de Ruiter, UNESCO Chair Global Health & Education, The Netherlands

Didier Jourdan, Chair Holder of the UNESCO chair “Global Health and Education”, Head of the WHO Collaborating Centre for “Research in Education and Health”, France

Elisabeth Nöhammer, UMIT – Private University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Austria

Programme

 

Time

Topics/activities

9.00

Words of welcome by the organisers

9.10

Ice breaker session

9.30

Epistemological issues associated with the establishment of the effectiveness of health promotion programmes and policies: Part one

10.30

Coffee/tea break

11.00

Epistemological issues associated with the establishment of the effectiveness of health promotion programmes and policies: Part two

12.00

Networking activity: Identifying challenges and answers to the evidence dilemma

12.30

Lunch break

13.30

Illustrations from real-life projects on how to evaluate complex programmes

15.00

Coffee/tea break

15.30

Work session on a roadmap on the evidence for health promotion programmes

16.30

Synthesis of the discussions. Identifying the next phases of this joint venture

16.55

Conclusion

Registration

The registration fee is EUR 150. Networking lunch and refreshments are included. Number of registrations is limited to 40 persons.