0071 Assets in Action Report.Indd
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ASSETS IN ACTION: ILLUSTRATING ASSET BASED APPROACHES FOR HEALTH IMPROVEMENT JENNIFER MCLEAN AND VALERIE MCNEICE August 2012 August 2012 03 Contents Acknowledgements...........................................................................04 Introduction..........................................................................................................06 Research report Aims and objectives...............................................................................................08 Methodology........................................................................................................09 Findings................................................................................................................14 Discussion.............................................................................................................29 Conclusions and recommendations.......................................................................32 References............................................................................................................35 Routes Out of Prison (RooP)..................................................................................39 Case studies Columba 1400......................................................................................................44 The Coach House Trust..........................................................................................50 Templehall Dads’ Group........................................................................................56 Older People for Older People (O4O)....................................................................63 Gorbals Recycles....................................................................................................72 The Zone’s Home Buddy Scheme..........................................................................78 GalGael Navigate Life Programme.........................................................................85 StobsWELLbeing...................................................................................................94 Healthy ‘n’ Happy Community Development Trust..............................................102 Urban Roots........................................................................................................111 Bute Produce.......................................................................................................118 Playbusters’ Connecting Generations Project.......................................................126 Fair Isle Primary School’s Opportunities For All....................................................132 The Big ShoutER..................................................................................................139 Castlemilk Timebank............................................................................................146 218.....................................................................................................................153 Rag Tag ‘n’ Textile...............................................................................................161 Fab Pad..............................................................................................................167 Appendices Appendix A: Research protocol............................................................................176 Appendix B: Case study analysis framework.........................................................178 Appendix C: Interview schedules.........................................................................183 Appendix D: Case study contact details...............................................................185 04 Assets In Action: Illustrating Asset Based Approaches For Health Improvement Thanks are also due to a number of Acknowledgements organisations and individuals for their help, time and insights namely, the Grateful thanks are due to the staff and BIG Lottery, the Scottish Community participants of the projects and initiatives Development Centre, the Community who gave so freely of their time and Health Exchange, Equally Well and the knowledge, shared their experiences staff of GCPH. and stories, and opened their projects to us. Without their support, passion and Thanks also to Carol Tannahill, Fiona enthusiasm, there would have been no Garven and Eric Samuel for helpful study at all. comments on this report. Research report 06 Assets In Action: Illustrating Asset Based Approaches For Health Improvement and services (Foot and Hopkins, 2010). Introduction Asset based working could present opportunities for dialogue between local Health assets and asset based working people and staff on the basis of each have recently come into sharper focus as having something to offer, resulting being potentially important in improving in more meaningful and appropriate population health and reducing services. health inequalities. A number of benefi ts of taking an asset Health assets are described as the based approach have been proposed collective resources which individuals and for individuals and communities. For communities have – internally, externally those who engage, the potential benefi ts include more control over their lives and Introduction and collectively – which help protect against poor health and also support where they live; the ability to infl uence the development and maintenance decisions which affect them and their of good health. Assets can be social, communities; the opportunity to be fi nancial, physical and environmental; engaged how and as they want to be they are more than just the things and to be seen as part of the solution, you can put a price on. Assets are also not the problem. These proposed about people, skills and opportunities. benefi ts have the potential to impact Central to assets approaches is the on health and health inequalities – but idea of people in control of their lives questions remain about what needs to through development of their capacities happen to enable these benefi ts to and capabilities. It is thought that such be realised. control enables people to become better connected with each other and In Scotland it is now widely accepted that encourages a spirit of cooperation, supporting good health is not the sole mutual support and caring. responsibility of the NHS – voluntary and statutory partners have a pivotal role in infl uencing and protecting the material, Asset based approaches are ways of social and psychosocial determinants working that promote and strengthen of health (Scottish Government, 2011). health assets. Assessing and building Arguably, strength and capacity can be on the strengths of individuals and the built through agencies working together assets of a community may open the with communities as equal partners: this door to new ways of thinking about and helps to mobilise the resources in an improving health and of responding to area, thereby protecting and promoting ill health. sustainable health and wellbeing. So, can working in this way help to create The literature suggests that the healthy, fl ourishing and connected assets perspective offers practical and communities? innovative ways to impact on the positive factors that nurture health and wellbeing. A dialogue around redressing the balance It has the potential to change the way between creating good health and practitioners engage with individuals wellbeing and identifying risk, preventing and the way planners design places illness and reducing premature death is August 2012 07 emerging (Foot, 2012). Whilst there is a growing body of evidence relating to health assets, there are also gaps in this evidence base. Questions about why and how to adopt asset based working, and appropriate methods to measure and evaluate such approaches, remain unanswered in the literature (GCPH, 2012). Introduction This piece of research profi les the work of 19 projects with the aim of illustrating how asset based approaches are currently being applied in Scotland. The case studies of these projects highlight the key characteristics of asset based working and demonstrate the strengths and challenges of the approach for individuals, the wider community and project staff. This research also provides a valuable insight into the practical experiences of those working most closely with communities in an asset based fashion. Lastly, this report presents points of learning and policy implications for the future development of asset based working in Scotland. The Glasgow Centre for Population Health has produced two briefi ng papers on the subject of asset based approaches, both of which are available on the GCPH website – www.gcph.co.uk. 08 Assets In Action: Illustrating Asset Based Approaches For Health Improvement • Highlight, as part of each case Aims and study, the strengths and positive outcomes of the approach taken objectives as well as aspects which have proven challenging. Building on a review of the available evidence (GCPH, 2011) and utilising a • Assess each case for evidence to case study methodology, this piece of suggest that asset based research was designed to focus on asset approaches are improving health based approaches in action. and reducing health inequalities in Scotland. The purpose was to better understand Aims and objectives how individual and community assets are • Synthesise the learning across the being realised and enhanced in real life case studies to draw out settings. transferable lessons regarding asset based working. The aim of this study was “to illustrate asset based approaches for health • Identify