title: The Nature of Community Participation in Municipal Public Health Planning in Queensland
Creators: name: Murray, Zoë Kumari
Publisher: name: Griffith University
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: community
subject: municipal
subject: public
subject: health
subject: planning
subject: Queensland
subject: participation

description: 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. Each project was initiated in 2001 or 2002, with the interviews conducted during 2003, 2005 and 2006. Key discoveries provide insights into the essence of what community participation means to stakeholders and show that a range of levels can be appropriate to MPHP. Based on views and experience of key informants, community participation in MPHP is important for two reasons: to enhance decision-making and to foster support, enthusiasm and commitment to implement and sustain project activities beyond the planning stages. The main purpose of community participation strategies in MPHP is to engage stakeholders and mobilise a community voice in developing shared goals and joint actions. Participation in a MPHP context is about the right to “have a say” in decision-making, not to control it. This certainly does not support the frequently asserted notion that “the more community control the better the project is”. The study concludes that MPHP should target community participation at the level of joint planning, with active consultation and advice from community members, services providers and other professionals that work in the local area. The MPHP process should contain mechanisms which allow for two-way communication and cooperative arrangements with stakeholders in all stages of development. Mechanisms found to be useful for this and in facilitating community representation are discussion forums, stakeholder working groups and collaborative steering committees. The study reveals a number of barriers and success factors associated with MPHP. It highlights the importance of leadership, and the maintenance of this leadership, among the success factors. It also points out the many threats to project sustainability, particularly the vulnerability caused by the loss of key political and organisational champions and the lack of funding and commitment to take the project from planning through to and throughout the implementation stage. This research confirms that community participation is complex and that community control should not be considered the only or ideal form of meaningful participation. The findings of this study clarify conceptual issues concerning community participation not only useful to professionals involved in MPHP in Queensland, but also to many of those who are working in government and non-government projects requiring community participation.