Promoting Health in a Rural Community in the Basque Country by Leveraging Health Assets Identified through a Community Health Diagnosis

Maria Jose Alberdi-Erice, Esperanza Rayón-Valpuesta and Homero Martinez
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Maria Jose Alberdi-Erice: Facultad de Medicina y Enfermería, Sección Donostia, Universidad Pública del País Vasco (UPV), 20014 San Sebastián, Spain
Esperanza Rayón-Valpuesta: Facultad de Enfermería, Fisioterapia y Podología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), 28040 Madrid, Spain
Homero Martinez: Hospital Infantil de Mexico Federico Gómez, Ciudad de Mexico 06720, Mexico

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 2, 1-17

Abstract: Salutogenesis focuses on factors that generate health and is a useful construct for identifying factors that promote health and for guiding activities to this end. This article describes health assets identified in a community diagnosis and how to leverage them with actions for improvement to deepen the understanding of this concept and its impact on health promotion. An intervention strategy was designed following the principles of participatory action research (PAR). The study was carried out in Mañaria (Basque Country, Spain) using semi-structured and in-depth interviews, participant observation, desk review, and photographs, alongside different participatory strategies. Twenty-six women were interviewed, 21 of whom were community inhabitants, and five were key informants who worked in public or private institutions. Participant recruitment stopped when data saturation was reached. Data were analysed through discourse analysis, progressive coding, and categorisation. Six meta-categories emerged, and for each of these categories, health assets were identified together with actions to improve the community’s health. The latter were presented by the community to the authorities to trigger specific actions towards improving the health of the community. Identification of health assets led to different actions to improve the health of the community including improving the existing physical and social environments, personal and group skills, and the promotion of physical, social, emotional and cultural well-being.

Keywords: salutogenesis; health assets; health promotion; participatory action research; rural health; community nursing; primary health care; community health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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