Making sense of assets: what can an assets based approach offer public health?

Brooks, Fiona; Kendall, Sally

doi:10.1080/09581596.2013.783687

Cited by 44 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Brooks and Kendall () suggested that understanding and mobilising assets stemming from the interaction between individuals and community is important to inform community developments. However, even in the small geographical area of this study, the availability of assets as protective factors is complex, as is the perception of risk associated with various aspects of the women's lives.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Asset‐based approaches also focus on identifying the protective factors and positive assets within individuals and communities aiming to mobilise these in an empowering way (Friedli ). This is an alternative to deficit models where problems and limitations are a starting point for community decision‐making (Brooks & Kendall ). Blaxter () suggested that some women view health as a resource which individuals have the capacity and responsibility to develop; however, other women consider it to be outside individual control.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, asset theory has been criticised for potentially deflecting attention from more embedded societal issues such as unemployment, poverty and discrimination (Friedli ). Others argue both asset and deficit approaches are needed to effectively address inequalities in health and other aspects of society (Brooks & Kendall ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Locality, loneliness and lifestyle: a qualitative study of factors influencing women's health perceptions

Bates

Machin

2015

Health Soc Care Community

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Locality, loneliness and lifestyle: a qualitative study of factors influencing women's health perceptions. AbstractThe contribution of women to the achievement of global public health targets cannot be underestimated. It is well evidenced that within families, women are a key influence on the health and wellbeing of their children and partners. However geographical differences in women's health inequalities persist and research focusing specifically on women's perceptions of locality factors influencing their own health and wellbeing is scarce. This What is already known: Women's health and wellbeing research has largely focused on specific health conditions such as breast cancer.  Women's life roles tend to be multiple and subject to several constraints such as geographical location  Women's self-rated health and wellbeing is associated with the geographical "ward" they live in.What this paper adds:

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Locality, loneliness and lifestyle: a qualitative study of factors influencing women's health perceptions

Bates

Machin

2015

Health Soc Care Community

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“…Brooks and Kendall (2013, p. 128), for example, explain that assets are ‘any factor that enhances the ability to create or sustain health and well-being, such as the resources that promote self-esteem and the coping abilities of individuals and communities’. Alvarez-Dardet, Morgan, Cantero, and Hernán (2015, p. 1), meanwhile, define public health assets as the:

expression of fair, equitable and democratic communities, resulting from their organized efforts; this is achieved by facilitating community empowerment and capacities which improves, promotes and restores the health of populations and can help to reduce health inequalities.

Glasgow Centre for Population Health profiled the work of 19 projects illustrating how asset-based approaches are applied in Scotland, including the work of a number of community-led organisations.…”

Section: On Public Health Assetsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The assets-based approach: furthering a neoliberal agenda or rediscovering the old public health? A critical examination of practitioner discourses

Roy

2016

Critical Public Health

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The ‘assets-based approach’ to health and well-being has, on the one hand, been presented as a potentially empowering means to address the social determinants of health while, on the other, been criticised for obscuring structural drivers of inequality and encouraging individualisation and marketisation; in essence, for being a tool of neoliberalism. This study looks at how this apparent contestation plays out in practice through a critical realist-inspired examination of practitioner discourses, specifically of those working within communities to address social vulnerabilities that we know impact upon health. The study finds that practitioners interact with the assets-based policy discourse in interesting ways. Rather than unwitting tools of neoliberalism, they considered their work to be about mitigating the worst effects of poverty and social vulnerability in ways that enhance collectivism and solidarity, concepts that neoliberalism arguably seeks to disrupt. Furthermore, rather than a different, innovative, way of working, they consider the assets-based approach to simply be a re-labelling of what they have been doing anyway, for as long as they can remember. So, for practitioners, rather than a ‘new’ approach to public health, the assets-based public health movement seems to be a return to recognising and appreciating the role of community within public health policy and practice; ideals that predate neoliberalism by quite some considerable time.

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“…The implicit assumption of deficit approaches is that individuals and communities do not have the necessary resources or expertise to address health problems themselves (Warr et al, 2013). In contrast asset-based approaches aim to promote and develop the capabilities and capacities that support good health and well-being whilst ameliorating the symptoms and consequences of poor health (Brooks and Kendall, 2013;Morgan and Zigilo, 2007 In essence asset-based approaches seek to redress the balance between meeting the needs of people and communities and nurturing their strengths (assets) in support of better health and well-being (McLean, 2011).…”

Section: The Possibilities and Pitfalls Of Asset-based Approaches To mentioning

confidence: 99%

Policy commentary - Social prescribing 'plus': a model of asset-based collaborative innovation?

Dayson¹

2017

PPP

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Social prescribing is a current UK social policy phenomenon but to what extent does it represent a substantive change in the way policymakers think about services for people with multiple and complex needs? I draw on several local studies of social prescribing initiatives to argue that cautious optimism is merited: through the idea of social prescribing 'plus' key actors in a number of localities have embraced the principles of asset-based working and collaborative innovation to achieve real change in policy and practice. However, policy interest in social prescribing cannot be decoupled from the public sector austerity and transformation agenda, and the true testing ground will be how local policymakers develop services in future: will they draw on the asset-based collaborative principles of social prescribing 'plus'; or will it lead to expectations that people and communities do more for themselves without the necessary investment in this alternate model of welfare.

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Making sense of assets: what can an assets based approach offer public health?

Cited by 44 publications

References 11 publications

Locality, loneliness and lifestyle: a qualitative study of factors influencing women's health perceptions

Locality, loneliness and lifestyle: a qualitative study of factors influencing women's health perceptions

The assets-based approach: furthering a neoliberal agenda or rediscovering the old public health? A critical examination of practitioner discourses

Policy commentary - Social prescribing 'plus': a model of asset-based collaborative innovation?

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