Developed countries are experiencing high levels of mental and physical illness associated with long term health conditions, unhealthy lifestyles and an ageing population. Given the limited capacity of the formal health care sector to address these public health issues, attention is turning to the role of agencies active in civil society. This paper sought to evaluate the associations between participation in community centre activities, the psycho-social wellbeing and health related behaviours. This was based on an evaluation of the South West Well-being programme involving ten organisations delivering leisure, exercise, cooking, befriending, arts and crafts activities. The evaluation consisted of a before-and-after study with 687 adults. The results showed positive changes in self-reported general health, mental health, personal and social well-being. Positive changes were associated with diet and physical activity. Some activities were different in their outcomes—especially in cases where group activities were combined with one-to-one support. The results suggest that community centre activities of this nature offer benefits that are generically supportive of health behaviour changes. Such initiatives can perform an important role in supporting the health improvement objectives of formal health care services. For commissioners and partner agencies, accessibility and participation are attractive features that are particularly pertinent to the current public health context.
References
[1]
No Health without Public Mental Health; Royal College of Psychiatrists: London, UK, 2010.
[2]
Marmot, M. Fair Society, Healthy Lives: Strategic Review of Health Inequalities in England Post 2010; UCL: London, UK, 2010.
[3]
Health Reform: Meeting the Challenge of Ageing and Multiple Morbidities; OECD Publishing: Paris, France, 2011.
[4]
Health Systems Financing: Paths to Universal Coverage; World Health Organisation: Geneva, Switzerland, 2010.
[5]
The Community and Voluntary Sector in Health; Kings Funds and NCVO: London, UK, 2011.
[6]
Healthy Lives, Healthy People White Paper: Our Strategy for Public Health in England; Department of Health: London, UK, 2010.
[7]
A vision for Adult Social Care: Capable Communities and Active Citizens; Department of Health: London, UK, 2010.
[8]
Aiken, M.; Cairns, B.; Taylor, M.; Moran, R. Community Organisations Controlling Assets: a better understanding; Joseph Rowntree Foundation: York, UK, 2011.
[9]
Newbigging, K.; Heginbotham, C. Commissioning Mental Wellbeing: A Leadership Brief for Boards and Senior Managers; University of Central Lancashire: Preston, UK, 2010.
[10]
South, J.; Higgins, T.; Woodall, J.; White, S. Can social prescribing provide the missing link? Prim. Health Care Res. Dev. 2008, 9, 310–318.
[11]
Rankin, D.; Truman, J.; Backett-Milburn, K.; Platt, S.; Petticrew, M. The contextual development of healthy living centre services: An examination of food-related initiatives. Health Place 2006, 12, 644–655.
[12]
Community Engagement and Development; National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence: London, UK, 2007.
[13]
Milton, B.; Attree, P.; French, B.; Povall, S.; Whitehead, M.; Popay, J. The impact of community engagement on health and social outcomes: A systematic review. Community Dev. J. 2011, doi:10.1093/cdj/bsr043.
[14]
Wilkinson, R.; Pickett, K. The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies almost always Do Better; Allen Lane: London, UK, 2009.
[15]
Hunter, B.; Neiger, B.; West, J. The importance of addressing social determinants of health at the local level: The case for social capital. Health Soc. Care Community 2011, 19, 522–530, doi:10.1111/j.1365-2524.2011.00999.x.
[16]
Renton, A.; Phillips, G.; Daykin, N.; Yu, G.; Taylor, K.; Petticrew, M. Think of your art-eries: Arts participation, behavioural cardiovascular risk factors and mental well-being in deprived communities in London. Public Health 2012, 126, S57–S64.
[17]
Thomson, H.; Atkinson, R.; Petticrew, M.; Kearns, A. Do urban regeneration programmes improve public health and reduce health inequalities? A synthesis of the evidence from UK policy and practice (1980–2004). J. Epidemiol. Community Health 2006, 60, 108–115, doi:10.1136/jech.2005.038885.
[18]
Thomson, H. A dose of realism for healthy urban policy: Lessons from area-based initiatives in the UK. J. Epidemiol. Community Health 2008, 62, 932–936, doi:10.1136/jech.2007.068775.
[19]
Morrow-Howell, N. Volunteering in later life: Research frontiers. J. Gerontol. B Psychol. Sci. Soc. Sci. 2010, 65, 461–469, doi:10.1093/geronb/gbq024.
[20]
South West Healthy Living Alliance Strategy; Westbank HLC: Devon, UK, 2008.
[21]
Abdallah, S.; Steuer, N.; Marks, N. Well-Being Evaluation Tools: A Research and Development Project for the Big Lottery Fund; New Economics Foundation: London, UK, 2008.
[22]
Radloff, L. The CES-D scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Appl. Psychol. Meas. 1977, 1, 385–401, doi:10.1177/014662167700100306.
[23]
Tennant, R.; Hiller, L.; Fishwick, R.; Platt, S.; Joseph, S.; Weich, S.; Parkinson, J.; Secker, J.; Stewart-Brown, S. The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS): Development and UK validation. Health Qual. Life Outcomes 2007, 5, 63–75, doi:10.1186/1477-7525-5-63.
[24]
Wareham, N.; Jakes, R.; Renni, K.; Schuit, J.; Mitchell, J.; Hennings, S.; Day, N. Validity and repeatability of a simple index derived from the short physical activity questionnaire used in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study. Public Health Nutr. 2002, 6, 407–413.
[25]
Hawthorne, G.; Elliott, P. Imputing cross-sectional missing data: Comparison of common techniques. Aust. NZ J. Psychiat. 2005, 39, 583–590, doi:10.1080/j.1440-1614.2005.01630.x.
[26]
Buck, D.; Frosini, F. The Clustering of Unhealthy Behaviours Over Time; Kings Fund: London, UK, 2012.
[27]
The Commissioning Framework for Health and Well-being; Department of Health: London, UK, 2007.
