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Evaluating Health Promotion in Schools: A Contextual Action-Oriented Research Approach

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Global Handbook of Health Promotion Research, Vol. 1

Abstract

Creating system-wide change in the school setting is challenging, since schools can be considered as complex adaptive systems. It implies a need for a more context-specific approach. To align the research of school health promotion with this complexity, the principles of action research have been adapted into a contextual action-oriented research approach (CARA). The basic properties of CARA are its specific focus on contextual differences and the use of monitoring and reflective feedback to both support and evaluate the process of change. CARA has been applied as a research approach to study the process and effects of a Dutch Health Promoting School initiative. This CARA-based evaluation has provided insights into how to successfully integrate health promotion in a specific context and how the effects interact with this context. Moreover, applying CARA has contributed to a better understanding of how to evaluate a health promotion initiative while dealing with a complex adaptive system, and it has provided insights into the consequences for research and researchers. Overall, CARA provides a solution to align the health promotion research with new insights into complex systems thinking.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Promotion, Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Nina Bartelink, Patricia van Assema & Stef Kremers

  2. Department of Health Promotion, School of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism (NUTRIM), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Nina Bartelink, Patricia van Assema & Stef Kremers

  3. Academic Collaborative Centre for Public Health Limburg, Public Health Services, Heerlen, The Netherlands

    Nina Bartelink, Patricia van Assema, Maria Jansen & Stef Kremers

  4. Department of Nutrition and Movement Sciences, Nutrition and Translational Research Institute Maastricht (NUTRIM), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Hans Savelberg

  5. Department of Health Services Research, Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Maria Jansen

Authors
  1. Patricia van Assema
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  2. Hans Savelberg
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  3. Maria Jansen
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  4. Stef Kremers
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nina Bartelink .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Louise Potvin

  2. UNESCO Chair and WHO Collaborating Centre in Global Health & Education, University of Clermont Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France

    Didier Jourdan

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Bartelink, N., van Assema, P., Savelberg, H., Jansen, M., Kremers, S. (2022). Evaluating Health Promotion in Schools: A Contextual Action-Oriented Research Approach. In: Potvin, L., Jourdan, D. (eds) Global Handbook of Health Promotion Research, Vol. 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97212-7_21

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97212-7_21

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