Asset map in a Chilean Health Promoting University: ‘a strategy for revitalization’

Abstract

Summary Health Promoting Universities (HPUs) are more likely to perform actions intended to change habits and increase personal empowerment, than they are to develop community actions. The objective of this research is to create an asset map to visualize collective actions in a Chilean HPU. A qualitative study, based on the ABCD model was conducted. There were 149 people, distributed into 48 semi-structured interviews and 14 focus groups, who participated in this study (students, employees, ex-students and retirees). An asset map was elaborated, identifying the contributions of residents, associations and organizations, local institutions, physical resources, economic assets and local culture and with a new category, ‘connecting assets’. These categories show the range of resources in a university. According to the participants, the questions on asset identification were a tool for reflection, and by giving their opinions and discovering or drawing attention to new resources, they gained a better understanding of the assets in the university. Several participants stated that these talks could generate a positive emotional environment, which boosted their wellbeing. There were gender- and group-based differences in how the assets were valued. Students stressed assets related to services and benefits from the institution, green areas, and collective spaces. Employees, retirees and ex-students emphasized assets related to belonging, identity and traditions. Men appreciated openness and privacy in physical spaces. Women highlighted assets related to the institution. The resulting map, displays a range of resources that can help the university develop new possibilities for comprehensive and collective actions that would revitalize the HPU strategy.

An Academic-Community Partnership to Address Gun Violence in the Roseland Neighborhood of Chicago

“…ABCD relies on 2 mechanisms of change: (1) it empowers local citizens to envision change and create it by using local assets-including physical assets-to promote health, assure security, and shape local economies and (2) learning from residents and giving them the power to lead the change creation process. ABCD is not specific to firearm violence; it has been used by diverse community development leaders in the social science literature, including university stakeholders mapping assets on a university campus, 17 social work graduate students doing service learning with the community, 18 and for the development of sports-based projects that support healthy lifestyles among minoritized racial groups. 19 Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, homicides have increased in the majority of large cities, with the vast majority of homicides involving guns.…”