Settings, systems and organization development: the Healthy Living and Working Model

Abstract

This paper highlights the importance of understanding management theories to development of the settings approach to health promotion. It then provides an overview of two areas of especial pertinence: organization development and systems thinking. This is followed by the articulation of the Healthy Living and Working Model, which is proposed as a mechanism for applying the principles of the settings approach in practice within organizations. The paper concludes by pointing to future challenges in developing this Model and reiterating that facilitating improvement at the organizational level should be the defining characteristic of the settings approach to health promotion.

The Application of Salutogenesis in Everyday Settings

“…Overall, the overarching, generic settings literature more or less agrees upon several principles of the settings approach (Dooris, 2005(Dooris, , 2009Paton, Soumen, & Lamiece, 2005;Poland, Kurpa, & McCall, 2009;Shareck, Frohlich, & Poland, 2013):…”

“…• Ecological model of health • Taking a whole systems approach considering reciprocal relationships within the system and between its subsystems, as well as relationships with systems in the environment • Organizational development for change • Promoting participation as key process of interventions Surprisingly, this generic literature makes no (Paton et al, 2005;Whitelaw et al, 2001) or only very brief, general references to salutogenesis as a source of inspiration or orientation for the settings approach (e.g., Dooris, 2005Dooris, , 2009Dooris, , 2013Poland et al, 2009 …”

Urban governance and the systems approaches to health-environment co-benefits in cities

“…Climate co-benefits in health encompass win-win opportunities for simultaneously tackling climate change and improving health. Ideally, systems approaches can help identify synergies and trade-offs across sectors, yet the potential opportunities and benefits of applying such approaches in health promotion remain relatively undeveloped in practice 37 . This section briefly outlines potential sectors where co-benefits for health are anticipated.…”

Promoting mental health and wellbeing in practice

“…Establishing partnerships between organisations and people has long been proven to be effective in terms of professional development and similarly in improved wellbeing outcomes for individuals (Cornwall et al, 2003). Paton, Sengupta and Hassan (2005) in the explanation of their Healthy Living and Working Model explain that an integration of approaches across stakeholders is essential to health promotion. Although a dialogue between services would be beneficial in achieving this, it is not always a given that services will have the same values and few constraints.…”